


Unto The Breach

by BackslashEcho



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Peggy Sue, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 59,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BackslashEcho/pseuds/BackslashEcho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the power of all nine Bijuu within him, Rokudaime Hokage Uzumaki Naruto should have been unstoppable. When Tobi tried to imprison him in the Other Dimension, the combined power of nine tailed beasts caused spacetime to tear, and the bijuu found themselves inside their previous jinchuuriki hosts...in the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back To Before (Prologue)

“Your goal is worthy. Our power is yours to command.”

Naruto blinked. 

Communing with the Bastard Fo—with _Kurama_ had always been disorienting, but now there was a cacophony of voices in his subconscious, and he was so energized by the chakra of nine bijuu instead of one that he felt as if he could tear apart this final battlefield of the Fourth Great Shinobi War all on his own.

The White Zetsu clone soldiers were no match for him, and at this point only the mightiest of the _Edo Tensei_ -revived warriors would be able to even see him. And, as if that weren’t enough, the revived Hokage had all been freed from the Enemy’s control. From the First to the Fifth, they were ranged behind him right now, their combined threat level keeping all others at bay, only having backed off to allow him the honor of the final confrontation: The secret Uchiha calling himself Tobi…and their battlefield-appointed successor—Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage.

Naruto’s eyes narrowed as he glared at his opponent. The sharingan visible behind the tomoe-shaped holes in Tobi’s white mask, by contrast, seemed to bulge, and the irides spun and _twisted_ into an elongated pinwheel.

 _I know that eye!_ Naruto thought, his lip curling back from his enlarged canines. It was the last impression of his first mentor, forever burned into his mind from the man’s final moments. _That’s Kakashi-sensei’s eye! **He stole Kakashi-sensei’s eye!**_

“You look angry,” Tobi drawled. “Perhaps that will protect you from despair for a time. As it is, you have been a thorn in my side too long, and I will have the power you seek to turn against me. I shall hold you until it is time to bring the Moon's Eye plan to fruition. _Kamui!_ ”

Naruto screamed. He felt a strange force that _pulled_ at his body, which _twisted_ his very existence the way Tobi’s sharingan had twisted into the Mangekyou…

“No!” Naruto cried, and nine other voices echoed inside his head. He drew on the chakra offered freely by the nine bijuu within him, felt it flooding throughout his body until the overwhelming pleasurepainpower threatened to tear him apart itself.

And then, there was nothing.

* * *

In a dark tent, Sabaku no Gaara raised a hand to brush at his short red hair. _Odd_. He didn’t wear his hair this short anymore. 

As he shifted forward, lost in thought, he felt a weight on his back. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw an enormous cork. His sand-gourd? _Odder still_. Ever since he had learned to grind the earth beneath his feet into sand at a mere thought, he had ceased carrying the heavy thing around with him. 

In any case, this cramped canvas around him reminded Gaara of nothing so much as the tent his brother had used en route to their first chunin exams. Gaara had never needed it, being unable to sleep without releasing his prisoner. As he recalled, he had only entered the tent to isolate himself during the full moon, two days before their arrival in Konoha. Staying out of the moonlight helped to quiet the rages of…

There was a tickling sensation at the back of Gaara’s mind, a _feeling_ that somehow recalled the _sound_ of hissing sands in a glass. Gaara’s teal-green eyes widened in disbelieving shock.

* * *

Nii Yugito yawned and stretched languorously, opening her eyes from her…she mentally smirked… _catnap_. She had chosen this apartment expressly because it had a small, thickly-cushioned bed in the South-facing window, meaning she could curl up in the sun whenever she wished. 

Perhaps she should ask A-sama for a mission, though. It would do her good to get out of the village and stretch her legs. She must have been bored for too long, to have had a dream such as…that…one…

Despite the warm sunlight she was bathed in, Yugito shivered.

* * *

A small tower rose from a lake in the middle of the largest island in the Land of Water. Within, Midorikatabami Yagura blinked rapidly. This was…the Mizukage’s office. His hands on the desk were cold; the chair uncomfortable, apparently from how long he had sat in it. 

He could…feel? 

How many years had passed since he was elected the Yondaime Mizukage? How many years since his beloved village had celebrated his mysterious demise, after he had been made to instigate the bloodiest civil war the country had ever seen. How long since…

A small, soft noise from behind his chair made Yagura stiffen, and his fingers closed on the hooked staff leaning against his desk.

“Excuse me,” he said quietly, politely. He smiled grimly at the shocked intake of breath. “I must ask you to leave my office at once.”

* * *

Akahige no Roshi opened his eyes blearily. He was slumped on a wooden bar, his vision obscured by the huge, half-empty bottle sitting beside him. With a groan, he pushed himself upright, twisting his head so as to pop the bones in his neck. Onoki was always telling him that he would give himself rheumatism like that, but Roshi still moved without aches while Onoki complained daily about his bad back.

Roshi’s head pounded. He picked up the bottle he had woken up staring at; raised it to his lips for a little hair of the dog…and felt a painfully familiar stab of annoyance in the back of his mind.

The bottle slipped from his nerveless fingers and shattered.

* * *

Han of the Steam Armour was, appropriately enough, having a steam bath to calm his nerves. The situation was…unlikely? Unusual? Impossible? Words seemed insufficient. Though the large man often seemed ponderous, he was anything but slow. Like his great-granduncle the Shodai Tsuchikage, the truth was that he often had trouble being still. Though he was no genius, his mind was always in full motion, taking in and going over everything he saw and heard and thought.

The steam he saw and smelled and felt now—so very separate from his own—merited such contemplation. By rights, he ought not be _aware_ of anything at all. Particularly not the barely-contained charging force within him that he knew as well as he knew his own name…

* * *

Utakata gasped, and jerked away from the ropes descending toward him. He rolled out of the enormous sealing circle, came to his bare feet, and sprinted away as fast as he could. It was like a wide-awake nightmare; returned to that seal, to that place where his life had nearly been snatched away by a man who thought he was doing the right thing, a man he had respected and loved, a man he had called master…

“Utakata!”

Closing his eyes, the young man ignored the frantic cry of his name, the voice so achingly familiar, and forced himself to run even faster. He had run before and he would run again. He had to get _away_ before it could happen again, before he could be betrayed and betrayer, before his shishou died for his own sins.

* * *

Fuu shrieked. 

This was impossible, this was unacceptable, this was wrong, _wrong, WRONG_!

It couldn’t be true, she couldn’t be back here again. The village had been destroyed, its citizens slaughtered by Akatsuki, by their prodigal son Kakuzu; the Hero’s Water had been stolen and the Great Tree razed, the dam destroyed and the reservoir drained straight through the village itself until the Waterfall nearly ran red… 

Genjutsu. It had to be. Someone in the vicinity was forcing her to remember, to _relive_. She needed to escape, to disrupt it, to flee its range.

She had to get free!

Mintoha Fuu called forth her power. She scattered a shimmering, blinding powder all around herself, spread her wings, and flew off as fast as she could.

* * *

In a hidden cave within the Valley of Clouds and Lightning, Killer B sat quietly for once, his expression utterly unreadable behind the sunglasses he wore even here, in the pitch-darkness of his home-away-from-home. Alone though he was, he was deep in conversation, getting up to speed on everything that had happened after he…

So it had been an Uchiha after all. Perhaps Kumo’s attempt to abduct the byakugan from Konoha should have been aimed at the sharingan instead…though the insanity which appeared to come along with those eyes was not at all worth it, in B’s opinion. Perhaps it should have been early extermination, instead of kidnapping.

But B shouldn’t be _here_. He knew that, and so did his partner. In fact, they specifically remembered collapsing this particular cave several years ago…

* * *

Naruto felt a hand close around his ankle as he fell upside down, and he reacted instinctively, drawing a kunai and slashing at the ankles of the person holding him. His captor released him, skipping sideways on the tree limb to avoid Naruto’s cut. Naruto grabbed the branch at a narrower point with his free hand, used his momentum to swing a full circle around the limb, and planted both feet in the man’s back.

“Ooof.” With a grunt, the white-haired man went tumbling forward. His momentum thus cancelled, Naruto landed in a crouch on the branch, reversing his grip on the kunai and wondering idly why it was so small, without its signature three-prongs…

The man he had kicked caught a branch some ten feet below, swung around it as Naruto had, and stood tall, glaring back at his blond student with his one uncovered eye even as he slipped a small orange book into the pocket of his flak vest…

“K-K-Kakashi-sensei?”

Naruto dropped his kunai, which landed point-down and stuck in the branch he stood upon. Naruto didn’t even notice how close it had been to his foot. 

“Who did you think caught you when you slipped?” the man asked, his visible eyebrow rising even as his eye crinkled in his usual smile.

Naruto launched himself at the branch on which his sensei stood, landed hard, and flung himself at the man. He wrapped his arms around Kakashi and buried his face in the Copy Ninja’s flak jacket, breathing hard and struggling to hold back the tears.

“S-sensei…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” he was sniffling and babbling and this was probably a genjutsu he was trapped in, and he would ask the Bas—he would ask Kurama to free him in a moment, but for now he just wanted to hold his lost teacher.

“Uh,” said Kakashi intelligently. He placed a hand on Naruto’s head and ruffled his hair in the way the boy always hated, hoping it would help bring him back to normal. This behavior was a bit odd, even for Naruto.

“Oi. Dobe. Quit wasting time,” called a voice from ahead.

Naruto gasped again, turning his head without releasing Kakashi to see the speaker, his miserable face twisting into a snarl as he drew another kunai, wondering again why it was not not triple-pronged and marked with the Hiraishin seal. No matter. He could still flow his wind chakra down it if needed; that should insulate the blade and render it strong enough to resist Sasuke’s Chidori-enhanced chokutou. He met his rival-turned-enemy’s eye…and froze. Sasuke stood before him, yes, and Sakura at his side like always. And yet…

Sakura was wearing a _dress_ , her hair reached halfway down her back, and she was looking at him in puzzlement and frustration, but not contempt. Sasuke bore the uchiwa of his clan on the sleeve of his high-collared blue shirt, his eyes were onyx-dark instead of burning red, and though he too looked vaguely annoyed, his face was not twisted with hatred. Neither wore what he had last seen them in—oddly-cut black cloaks with a pattern of red clouds—and both of them had unblemished Konoha hitai-ite on their heads.

Naruto looked down at the hand holding his kunai. It seemed smaller than it should. He raised his other hand and felt his hair—shorter than he had worn it since before his first chunin exams. And his arms were orange to the wrists—orange sleeves, not black. He was wearing his all-orange jacket with the white collar that he had outgrown during his training trip with Jiraiya.

Between their collective height, clothes, and hairstyles…if he’d seen a photograph of this moment, he’d have said it was Team 7 sometime before their first chunin exams, which had been interrupted by the Sand-Sound Invasion and had ended with Hiruzen-jiijii’s death. But this wasn’t a photo.

Naruto put away his kunai, stepped away from Kakashi, and closed his eyes. _Kurama?_ He could feel the fox, much clearer in his mind than their connection had ever actually been when he was this age. _We need to bust out now. I'm counting on you to back me up if I need it._ There was a faint growl of assent in the back of his mind.

Naruto interlaced his fingers in a hand seal he had learned from Asuma-sensei before his death fighting Hidan—a special seal the former Guardian called the Seal of the Outer Bonds—and momentarily halted the flow of his own chakra. Then he expelled his chakra in a massive pulse, yelling, “Kai!”

Nothing happened.

Naruto focused harder, trying again. “Kai!” No change.

 _Kurama!_ Naruto felt a far more powerful pulse, this time entirely of Kyuubi’s chakra, but still the scene before him did not alter. Sakura was looking at him like he was crazy, Sasuke had activated his sharingan—just two tomoe in each eye!—and Kakashi was glancing around curiously.

“This is…real?” Naruto whispered. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted, barely aware of Kakashi catching him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** Hello Internet! Welcome to a new idea that wouldn't leave me alone. As you can tell, this is a Peggy Sue story. Yes, I do have something of a soft spot for Peggy Sue stories. Now, I haven't read nearly all the _Naruto_ Peggy Sue fics out there, but I haven't seen it done this way before.
> 
> I settled on the family name Midorikatabami for Yagura last year, since he lacks one in canon. It means “green oxalis”, referring to the flower on his hook-staff-thing. Roshi is called after his hair; Akahige means (roughly) “red whiskers”. Likewise, I have given Fuu the name Mintoha, meaning “mint leaves”, obviously an allusion to _her_ hair.
> 
> The nine Jinchuuriki are all very different; they have individual personalities and distinct reactions to suddenly finding themselves in the past. If they mostly seem to accept the fact unrealistically quickly…I would argue that (except for Naruto) we haven’t actually seen their reactions, only their realizations. Acceptance will be easier or harder on an individual basis for them, and will be handled in the time to come.


	2. Fresh Starts

When dawn came, visible as creeping lines of light across the canvas floor, Gaara rose and exited the tent as if this was where he had been last night, rather than years ago. 

Across from the entrance was a dying fire pit, a grumbling Kankurou…and a stoic Baki. He didn’t think of the man as _sensei_ , but his siblings always had. He had even accompanied them to the man’s memorial service, despite his personal indifference, and despite how unwelcome he had been by the rest of the attendees.

It was understandable. He hadn’t been the one to kill Baki, but he had killed a lot of other people. He did not think he had been meant to hear the people’s grumbling—or the mortician’s black jokes about how well Gaara had kept him in business over the years.

Gaara suppressed a smirk at the memory. The moment had stuck with him for years afterward, and formed the backbone for his later sense of humor…which had only served to alarm his brother, who used to complain that it gave him flashbacks to before Gaara had gained some measure of self-control over Shukaku’s rages, brought on by the uncontrolled influence of the One-Tailed Tanuki’s natural _juin_ markings. The cursed seals on the demon's sandskin had allowed them to easily seal away the enemies summoned by Edo Tensei, but their uncontrolled absorption of what Uzumaki has called “Natural Energy” was also the root cause of Shukaku’s infamous instability…

 _ **Were we really so bad?**_ the sand demon asked plaintively.

Gaara gave a tiny frown. _Yes,_ he thought back, laconic even in his own mind. His minutely darkened expression nevertheless had Kankurou edging away from him, but Gaara didn’t notice. _But that was before Uzumaki was able to stabilize our madness._

Uzumaki… This sort of situation was exactly the sort of thing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was famous for getting into. Never had the Iron Country saying “May you live in interesting times” seemed to apply to someone so much as to Naruto. Fate simply could not leave the blond alone.

Gaara had spent the night in the tent trying to dispel the illusion that he was stuck in the past through every method he knew. Even with Shukaku’s assistance, there was never even the slightest tremor to indicate that the world he saw was false or constructed, and they were forced to the conclusion that, somehow, they were indeed back in Gaara’s thirteen-year-old body. The timeline did indeed seem to match their trip to Konoha for the chunin exams and the invasion: For one Baki was alive. Kankurou carried his Karasu puppet on his back instead of sealed in a scroll, and Temari, when she emerged, wore a white battle dress instead of purple or black.

Whatever the reason, Gaara was sure beyond a doubt that Uzumaki had been involved. Well, they would be arriving in Konoha in two more days, and if Gaara was back, there was at least room to hope that perhaps Naruto was, too. Between the two of them, they should have little difficulty dealing with Orochimaru and the Sound ninja he had snuck into the city. 

Anyway, since Gaara had more or less decided that the time change was in some obscure way caused by the blond, he contented himself that Naruto probably had the situation under control and was diligently going about his duty.

* * *

“Gah!” 

For the second time in two days, Naruto attempted wildly to dismember one of his teammates, this time Sasuke when the other boy woke him for breakfast. The moment Sasuke reached for his shoulder, the jinchuuriki’s hand shot out and closed on Sasuke’s wrist. He pulled hard, nearly yanking Sasuke’s arm out of it’s socket at the shoulder, planted a knee on the other boy’s thigh, and was bringing a kunai gut his ‘attacker’ before his eyes could even fully open. Kakashi caught Naruto’s wrist halfway there, which seemed to jerk Naruto awake.

“K-Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asked muzzily, staring at Kakashi’s signature steel-backed fingerless gloves.

“Maa, we’d better wake you from a distance from now on,” Kakashi said breezily, without having so much as looked around at Naruto. He released the boy’s wrist and let him rise, his attention apparently still entirely on the book in his other hand.

“Sorry, taichou.”

Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly, still blinking himself back to consciousness. He thought Kakashi darted a look at him, just for a split-second, but he was too busy yawning as he pulled Sasuke to his feet to be sure.

“I still don’t know why we stopped to sleep here,” Sasuke groused, yanking his arm out of Naruto’s grip. “We’re only about an hour from Konoha anyway.”

“When your teammate is unwell, you stop to make sure they’re okay,” said Kakashi sternly, for once raising his eye from his book to give Sasuke a hard look.

“What was that fit about, Naruto-baka?” Sakura added, as she started to pack away their tents.

“Fit?” Naruto repeated, though he was rather focusing on the lack of disgust in Sakura’s tone as she spoke.

“You suddenly slipped like you forgot how to tree-hop and then you attacked Kakashi-sensei. And now you attacked Sasuke!” Sakura shrieked. Naruto had to wince. He hadn’t been this close to Sakura in years and her voice had become _somewhat_ less shrill with time.

 _Time…_ Naruto felt the Kyuubi stir at that. _Kamui is a spacetime technique._ Another growl of assent. _This is…_ He glanced around more carefully. _This is the same place we were fighting Tobi, roughly. It was pretty close to the original location of Konoha. So I guess we didn’t really move through space. But…Kamui doesn’t usually manipulate time, does it?_ Naruto thought hard, but couldn’t remember anything in Kakashi’s explanations about his Mangekyou that involved manipulation or control of time.

 _ **No, but space and time are linked,**_ grunted Kurama. _**And look at the facts: You’re smaller again. Weaker. Slower. Less chakra than you used to have, before tapping into mine. Still head and shoulders above most of your kind, but less than you’re used to.**_

 _If you give me a constant trickle, would that help my body get used to your chakra again faster?_ Naruto thought back at the fox. _That should force my chakra reserves to compensate faster, right?_

_**Perhaps…or it may simply kill you, at this age. But, I suppose…** _

_Thanks, Kurama,_ said Naruto, genuinely pleased to be on good terms with the Nine-Tailed Fox after so many years. _I guess we won’t have to go back to the Falls of Truth this time around._

 _ **No, but you should avoid visibly using my chakra if you can,**_ the Kyuubi advised. _**If my hunch is right, then you’re going to be facing much the same prejudice from your villagers as before.**_

_I guess so, but I’ll just have to—_

“NA-RU-TO! Stop ignoring me!” Sakura roared, trying to bash him over the head as she had so often done during the Academy.

For Naruto, though, it had been almost five years since such a ‘love tap’ had last occurred, and he was used to a Sakura who attacked with either Kabuto’s chakra scalpels or Tsunade’s enhanced strength, neither of which was he comfortable with getting near his head. Naruto flung himself backward away from Sakura, and rolled to his feet in a Shioken starting stance, back straight, arms loose, and facing his opponent only obliquely. 

Sakura, however, merely stumbled when her fist didn’t connect, and looked frankly baffled at how Naruto could have possibly avoided her.

“Why don’t we give Naruto a few hours to collect himself?” Kakashi put in, once again for all the world appearing intent on his book. “We’ll head back to the village, and I’ll hand in the mission report. Once we arrive, you’re dismissed.”

Sasuke, who had opened his mouth to ask what the hell fighting stance the dobe had used, which was wildly different from anything he had ever used before. “Hn,” he grunted instead. He picked up his backpack and hopped back into the trees. 

“I’ll sweep, Naruto,” said Kakashi lazily, as Sakura rushed to follow Sasuke. Naruto nodded and leapt after his teammates at once. Kakashi followed more sedately, still apparently focused on his book. In reality he was studying Naruto very intently. His student seemed different from just yesterday. 

_He’s not moving like he usually does,_ Kakashi realized. _He’s…more fluid and less predictable. All of his motions are more economical, and he’s reacting to unexpected contact like a war veteran. And yet, I’m_ sure _it’s still the same Naruto. I’ll have to keep an eye on him… He didn’t acquire those instincts overnight._

_…and where did he pick up Kushina-nee-san’s Tide Fist?_

* * *

Yagura heaved a sigh as he read the latest report to cross his desk. Two lone graves in Wave country, one marked with a shattered Kiri ANBU mask, the other with Kubikiribocho planted beside it. _Zabuza-kun…forgive me, my old friend…_

“Retrieve it at once,” he told the guard in front of him. “Double the bounty on Kisame. We must have Samehada back. And there’s no sense pretending the world doesn’t know that many of the other Swords are lost. Post a reward for the return of any of them besides Kubikiribocho or Hiramekarei, along with a notice that an additional bounty will be paid for the head of whatever nin the blade is taken from.”

“At once, Mizukage-sama,” the man said, and left at once.

“Yagura-sama, we have word of one of the rebel bases,” said another guard. “Shall we attack?”

“By no means,” said Yagura, with a frown. He supposed it made sense that the usurper would have surrounded him with fanatics. Easier to make Yagura appear a fanatic himself. Instead, he took the report the guard proffered, glanced at it long enough to memorize the location, then folded it deftly into a paper crane. Then he rose to his feet, cradling the crane carefully. 

“Two guards only,” he ordered, taking his Kage’s hat from the peg beside the door and sweeping out of the room. “Take me there.”

* * *

The only course of action that B and Gyuuki managed to agree on was that they should return to Kumo and check on Yugito. B had wanted to go to his brother at once with the information he had about the future, and it was a mark of how much he trusted his partner that when the Eight-Tailed Ox advised against doing so, B was willing to listen. Gyuuki was certain that they could do more good by simply taking a larger hand in events themselves, and while B had no problem with this, he didn’t like the idea of manipulating his brother. Finally, they had come to the conclusion that Yugito might have some good advice regardless, and that if there was even the possibility that she and Matatabi were also back, as they were, then it indicated that there might be more allies they could count on before having to convince anybody of some wild story about being from the future.

Rising from his rock without further ado, B exited the cave, grateful as ever for his sunglasses when he stepped out into the harsh sunlight. Not only did they always preserve his day-vision _and_ his night-vision when he took them off in the dark, but they also made him look damn cool. Of that, he had no doubts.

“What’s today’s lesson, B-sensei?” asked a rough feminine voice. Karui.

B paused. He had never been much of a sensor, but he really should have registered three people waiting outside his cave. Three…students. His personal squad. They hadn’t died, as far as he knew, but it had still been months since he had seen them, relative to him, and then when Gyuuki had been extracted in the future…

“Practice on your best moves today. I’ve got a meeting to get to,” he grunted without looking back. Then he leapt away without another word, unable to yet face the students he felt he had let down.

Just barely audible, he could hear Omoi ask the other two, “Did B-sensei just… _not_ rhyme?”

B smirked as he sped back toward the village. _I can be serious when the need calls for it, Omoi… Bakayaro! Konoyaro!_

* * *

Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage, sat in his office and glared at the interminable stack of paperwork in his in-tray. No matter how fast he worked, it never seemed to get any smaller… 

“Tsuchikage-sama, there is someone to see you.” Onoki glanced up to see his secretary speaking through a crack in the door. “He claims to be an old friend. Shall I—Hey! You can’t go in there!” she cried, as someone pushed past her and entered the room. Someone with bright red hair and a burgundy kimono over mesh armour.

“You!” the Tsuchikage roared. He leapt onto his desk, papers scattering and raised his hands to begin a jutsu. “I warned you to never return, on pain of death!”

Roshi met his eyes squarely, then knelt seiza and pressed his forehead to the floor. Onoki froze, his jutsu unfinished, and stared at his former squadmate.

“Roshi…?”

“Onoki,” the kneeling man replied, his voice very quiet. “I…” He trailed off, apparently unable to keep going, then started again, his voice stronger, but more formal. “Jonin Roshi returning from leave, Tsuchikage-sama.”

“Rise,” said Onoki, settling heavily back into his seat. “And speak freely. I order it.”

Roshi stood, and sighed. “I don’t want to waste my last years, Onoki,” he said plaintively. “I know we…disagreed over your decision to end the war, but even I can see it was the right decision. If anything, I think we’re too isolationist. The people won’t like it, but we should reach out. To Suna. To Kiri. Even to Konoha.”

The Tsuchikage’s eyes widened marginally. “Explain.”

“I have been…away,” said Roshi, plainly choosing his words carefully. “But I have kept an ear to the ground. I have…good reason to believe that change is coming to Kiri. Soon. And you know that even after all these years of quiet tension, Saru will be thrilled to ‘move toward peace instead of war’. Suna and Konoha are allied. Kumo, I think, will follow on later. The Raikage may take some convincing but I think he can be reasoned with.”

To say Onoki was surprised would be an understatement. Roshi had been one of the biggest advocates for pressing the end of the Third Great Shinobi War, even after the decimation of an entire Iwa regiment by Konoha’s Yellow Flash. The man was, or at least had been, a war hawk, plain and simple. His advice to Onoki had always been to action, to battle, to conquest. And now here Roshi stood advising him to press for peace?

“I guess that…wilderness retreat…of yours really did help you finally mature,” Onoki sniffed, though his pointed avoidance of the truth of Roshi’s leaving—exile—was telling in itself. “I was beginning to think nothing would make you grow up, even as you grew old.”

For the first time since entering the room, a smile ghosted across Roshi’s creased, weatherbeaten face. “If Son and I have grown old, then so have you, old friend.” 

“Bah!” With their joking back and forth, things seemed to return to how they once had been, but Onoki knew that, after fifteen years apart, things would never be the same. But perhaps, he thought, noting Roshi’s use of his prisoner’s true name, they could be better.

* * *

Yugito hadn’t left her apartment since she had woken up there. The most she could bring herself to do was eat a little, before curling back up in the sun on her window-bed and meditating, poking around her own head until she found what she was hoping for. Matatabi.

The Two-Tailed Cat was not restrained by any seal except the one that kept it within her body, unlike it had been in her youth. Instead, the Nibi roamed freely throughout Yugito’s mindscape.

 _ **There you are, Kitten,**_ the great Ghost Cat purred. _**I’m very pleased to find us reunited, and free.**_

 _Of course, but…_ Yugito trailed off, knowing that Matatabi would understand the question, and knowing equally well that the Two-Tails had no answers. _I just don’t know what to think._

 _ **I’ve heard about cats having nine lives, but I don’t think this is quite what that saying normally means,**_ the Nibi’s voice seemed to yowl and hiss a little; her version of sarcasm. _**As it happens, I believe we have Uzumaki to thank for bringing us back together, Kitten.**_

 _So what’s our next move?_ Yugito asked, feeling her body relaxing almost despite herself, lying on her cushions and warmed equally from without by the sun, and from within by Matatabi’s flames.

 _ **Wait for B and Gyuuki,**_ the cat replied. _**I doubt they’ll be much longer…**_

A sharp tap on the window brought Yugito’s head up. Sure enough, B was crouched on the sill, his face uncharacteristically serious. She slid the window open and he hopped neatly past the bed to land on the floor, grabbing a chair and spinning it around to straddle the back.

“We gots things to discuss, Yugito,” B said grimly. 

As it occurred to her the number of times she had heard B talk without rapping—a number she could count on one hand with fingers to spare—she sat up straight.

“You’re back too.” It wasn’t really a question, but she needed the confirmation. B’s nod said enough.

“Both of us,” B added, tapping the bull’s horn tattoo on his left cheek. “And quite a story, Hachibi had about one Uzumaki Naruto.”

“Nibi said as much…” Yugito acknowledged. “So…what do we do?”

* * *

As Yagura and his two guards drew near to within a kilometer of where the Rebels’ base supposedly was, he raised a hand, mutely ordering his guards to stop. Yagura himself advanced only a dozen meters further, before he paused himself. He tossed his hooked staff onto the ground out of arms reach, and then took another deliberate step away from it. Next, he drew off the Mizukage hat, and placed it beside him. Finally, he carefully set the paper crane upon the ground in front of him, edged back slightly, and folded his legs to sit.

He shut his eyes. He could not make his meaning much plainer. It would be a long while before Kiri could be trusted again in the world at large. The best he could do was make a showing of good faith, and try to avoid the execution he rightly deserved, for the sake of the greater good.

There was no sound, but after several minutes, he felt what seemed like a chance breeze. Cracking his eyes momentarily, he saw that the paper crane had vanished. Sighing, he meditated again. 

_**Are—are we sure about this, Yagura-san?**_ murmured Isobu, the somewhat timid Three-Tailed Turtle. _**They could just kill us anyway…**_

 _Yes…but I do not think they will,_ Yagura thought back. _What we’re doing now is out of character, and if their leader is who I suspect it to be, based on future events, she will want to know why._

 _ **I…suppose…**_ Isobu was always nervous around strangers, perhaps one of the reasons that neither of them had noticed the manipulations of Tobi, the first time around.

Yagura sighed. _So many errors to correct…and so very little time and trust to work with. But I do not think we will get another second chance like this. Will you work with me to balance our karma as far as we can, Isobu-kun?_

 _ **Of course, Yagura-san.**_

“I notice that your paper-crane of peace has been folded from your war plans. What should I make of that, Yagura?” called a new voice, a woman’s. 

Opening his eyes again, Yagura looked up to see a beautiful red-haired woman he knew was Terumi Mei, standing some ten feet away, flanked by two blue-haired men. To her left stood the man known only as Ao, a former Hunter-nin captain and talented sensor even before one took into account the stolen byakugan behind his eyepatch. On her right, a far younger man with glasses, perhaps seventeen, whose shark-like pointed teeth would identify him as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist even if the enormous, bandaged, double-hilted Hiramekarei on his back did not. Choujuurou, the Rebel leader’s personal bodyguard.

Yagura did not move. “Precisely what it appears, Terumi-san,” he answered Mei’s question politely. “I am scrapping those plans, and asking for peace.”

“Peace?” growled Ao, “After the bloodbath you perpetrated?”

“P-please, Ao-san,” stammered Choujuurou, apparently startled by Ao’s reaction. “Yondaime-san came to talk. Surely we can do him the courtesy of listening?”

“Why?” Mei asked, ignoring her companions and keeping her eyes fixed on Yagura. “We are not presently a threat to you and all of us know it.”

“Because I have been made free,” Yagura began, noticing Ao stiffen, “To think for myself once more. I believe it was Ao-san who first realized that I was…being manipulated,” he added, inclining his head toward the older man, who now stood rigid. “He should be able to confirm not only that I am, in fact, alone save for two bodyguards some fifteen meters back, but that my chakra network is free from genjutsu once more.”

“Ao?” Mei’s question was unmistakably an order, and seemed to snap Ao out of whatever fugue he had been in. He raised a half-tiger seal, and the veins beside his covered eye bulged. 

Ao studied Yagura with great intensity, before finally relaxing somewhat. “He is alone, Terumi-sama, as he says. And…I can no longer detect any hint that he is under the genjutsu manipulation I saw in him before.” He seemed reluctant to admit it.

“I sit before you wishing to talk,” Yagura cut in. “I am…not ‘helpless’, per se—I will not insult you by implying so—but I am seated, I am unarmed,” he gestured at his staff, lying out of reach, “and I have delivered a peace symbol in good faith.” He finished with his eyes on the paper crane in Mei’s hands. “Can we not speak, Terumi-dono?”

By the way her eyebrows contracted, she had clearly caught the changed honorific, suitable for one noble or kage to address another. “And what would we discuss?” she asked archly.

“Cessation of hostilities,” Yagura answered, with no hesitation. “Formal apologies. Reunion. Restitution. Resignation…”

All three rebels’ eyes widened as the list continued; the more so, he thought, because none of them could detect a falsehood from him. He knew they couldn’t, because he was being perfectly honest. Yagura was no fool. Terumi Mei had been the Godaime Mizukage in his future, and he had seen glimpses, mostly through Uzumaki, of how beloved she was by the village. There was little chance that anyone save Tobi’s radicals would still accept Yagura himself as Mizukage, and he intended to see such anti-kekkei genkai radicalism stamped out. Personally if possible. 

Kiri needed a leader to unite her people, and to reconnect her nation with the outside world. A leader who would visibly turn her back on the anti-kekkei genkai policies that the masked man Tobi had forced upon Yagura. A leader with a kind, if firm, hand, whom the people felt they could trust. 

A leader like Mei. 

All Yagura could hope for now was to try to ensure that she kept him around, once she took control. Perhaps as a special-assignment ANBU, he mused. That could work.

Terumi Mei took a few steps toward him, then sat down gracefully. “I am listening.”

* * *

Team 7’s return to Konoha was thankfully uneventful. Kakashi checked them in at the gate, nodding to Kotetsu and Izumo on their eternal watch duty, and dismissed his team as promised to go and make his report to the Hokage by himself. He had planned to do so in any case, of course; had intended to use the opportunity to pick up entrance forms for the chunin exams for his cute little team.

Now, he was curious what the Hokage might think of his observations of Naruto over the past day…

“As it is, Hokage-sama,” he finished some ten minutes later, “He reminds me of no one so much as Minato-sensei, since yesterday. The same sharp eyes on everything and everyone around him, same economy of movement, same calm force when giving orders—I put Naruto on point and he about gave the other two a conniption fit when he immediately started telling them exactly where to go and what to do. But his orders were flawless; exactly what I would have given…in wartime.”

The Third Hokage puffed at his pipe, unable to say much to that. “Do you think the team unready for the chunin exams then, Kakashi?” he asked instead.

“Unready? Before, Naruto was the weak link. Now, I honestly think he’ll be carrying both of the other two. I haven’t seen much from this…change…but honestly Hokage-sama. Not to put to fine a point on it, but he actually _hit me_.”

Smoke curled as the Hokage pondered that. “Was there any change in his chakra? Could this be some effect of the Kyuubi?”

Kakashi shook his head. “Negative, Hokage-sama. Watching him tree-hop from behind with the sharingan, he seems to be expending his chakra more conservatively, indicating better chakra control than he’s demonstrated in the past, but his chakra reserves are already on par with his father’s in his prime. If they increased further, I’m not sure I would notice…but what chakra I saw was entirely his, pure and untainted by demonic energies. You could, perhaps, examine his seal?”

“Mmm…I will wait for Jiraiya to arrive to do so, I think,” said the Hokage. “I received word recently that he planned to return during the chunin exams. Until then, continue to keep an eye on Naruto.”

Kakashi bowed. “As you wish, Hokage-sama. I will deliver the forms to my students tomorrow as planned.”

“Very well, Kakashi. Dismissed.” The Sandaime rose and popped his aching back, shuffling over to the window to gaze at the Hokage monument. In particular, his gaze rested upon his chosen successor. “Minato…what has your son gotten himself into now?”

* * *

When Naruto awoke the next morning in his same cramped, empty apartment; when he met his own gaze in the grimy bathroom mirror, he was finally forced to accept that he wasn’t dreaming or experiencing an elaborate genjutsu. He had spent a good portion of the previous night discussing the situation with Kurama in his mindscape, and between them they could only come up with one explanation: They had somehow been transported back through time to when Naruto was about thirteen.

Kurama had offered plenty of theories about the hows and the whys, but to Naruto it meant one thing: a second chance. If his reckoning of time was right, this was, in fact, just before the disastrous chunin exams. Before everything had gone wrong; before Jiijii had died; before Sasuke left and Sakura followed him, and Kakashi rejoined ANBU rather than deal with a new squad; before Tobi had somehow goaded Kiri into attacking Konoha while Naruto was away with Ero-sennin… 

Naruto shook his head firmly, clapping both hands against his cheeks. Not this time! He looked at himself more critically in the mirror. Much as he loved this jumpsuit, it was bound to get destroyed in the days and weeks to come. He’d rather preserve it now, if possible; that meant it was time to go shopping. Perhaps he could commission a haori greatcoat like he had favored in the future, after Ero-sennin had died. Running a hand over his hair, he thought that he ought to let it grow a little, too, but there was nothing he could do about that right now.

Having decided he was going out shopping today, Naruto quickly inventoried his food stores, wallet, and ninja gear. He had enough ramen and other nonperishables to last him for a little while, though he would have to stock up on fresh food now he was back in town. There was also no coffee in the cupboards, and Naruto simply could not remember a time when he had not drunk coffee, even though he knew he had only acquired the taste after the Fall. Gama-chan was comfortably full of ryou, so he should be able to swing everything as long as he didn’t get upcharged _too_ badly…which he hadn’t been since he actually became a ninja, as he recalled. 

His gear, however, was in rather poor shape all around compared to what he was accustomed to. He had a double handful of shuriken, a single spool of plain ninja wire, and a bunch of barely-sharpened kunai. No sealing materials, no armour to speak of, no Mie kunai, no backup chakra blade for his thigh… He sighed. His younger self didn’t know any better, and he hadn’t discovered most of those until later than this. Well, time to get a head start on it. 

Nodding firmly, Naruto laid his orange jacket on his dresser, and set out wearing just a black tee-shirt with an orange Uzushio spiral on the front and back. Most Konoha-nin these days had forgotten what the spiral they wore meant, but Naruto knew. It was the symbol of his clan’s ancestral home, and eventually it had been _his_ mark, just as Kakashi had made the henohenomoheji his own. Mentally adding a chop stamp to his list of purchases, Naruto quickly set out.

Groceries would come last, obviously. He would hit a stationary store before that to get sealing supplies so he could take his groceries home conveniently. First, then, was to restock on ninja supplies and buy or order his new jacket. Glancing along the Market street, Naruto’s eye was caught by a sign. _Kotetsu Ryuu: Shinobi Apparel and Weapons_. Perfect, he could knock out two things at once.

Naruto strolled inside, hearing a bell jingle. A voice from the back of the store cried, “Welcome to Kotetsu Ryuu; be with you in just a moment!” He looked around. Clothes dominated the left of the shop, so Naruto strolled toward that side, snagging some mesh armour and gloves along the way and looking for something similar to what he had worn in the future. As he was rifling through the jackets on the rack, he paused, stunned. He lifted the hangar carefully and took in the knee-length, sleeveless orange haori coat, with a pattern of black flames around the hem, shoulders, and collar. It wasn’t just similar, as he had been hoping; this was _his_ coat. The only difference was that this jacket did not read “Rokudaime Hokage” down the back. For one entertaining moment, he considered having it embroidered with those kanji anyway, but decided against it. Simply wearing such a jacket was going to draw attention, there was no need to boast so openly… 

Tossing the coat over his shoulder, he picked his way back across to the half of the store that sold weapons, snagging a small basket on his way and dropping the mesh armour in. He also picked up a handful of senbon and several spools of ninja wire, and was just examining the chakra-conductive blades when he heard the proprietor came out from the back.

“Hello! I see you’ve found some of what you’re looking for?” came the same voice from before, decidedly a young girl’s. Naruto glanced around, and barely suppressed his surprise. It was Tenten! But she was so…so young! Her steel-grey eyes were softer than he remembered, and her cheeks did not bear the telltale scars of a clawed slash from fighting the Nibi. Naruto blinked, suddenly realizing that Tenten had introduced herself while he was spacing out.

“Uh, yeah! Hiya! I’m Uzumaki Naruto!” He nodded at the weapons around them, then at the jacket over his shoulder. “Your shop has really good weapons _and_ stocks clothes which, I must say, are in excellent taste.”

Eying his orange pants skeptically, she smirked. “Somehow I’m not surprised that you’d say that. I haven’t seen you in here before, have I? Are you a rookie genin?”

Mentally scowling that he was stuck as a genin _again_ , Naruto forced himself to nod. “Yeah. Hopefully not for long, though; I think Kakashi-sensei is gonna enter us in the chunin exams that are coming up.”

“You think so?” she asked. “Our sensei held us back for a year so we could get more experience before allowing us to take this exam… Wait, did you say ‘Kakashi’? Your sensei is Sharingan no Kakashi?”

Naruto nodded, trying to cast his mind back to how he had been at thirteen. Loud, he remembered. Not that he was exactly quiet in the future, but… Also, cheerful and boastful of eventually becoming Hokage. Well, that wouldn’t be hard to fake. “Yup! Best choice to train the ‘Last Uchiha’ _and_ the future Hokage,” he grinned, jabbing a thumb at himself to make clear who he expected to wear the big hat.

“Well, if you keep shopping here, we’ll keep you well-supplied along the way,” said Tenten, smiling at his apparent hyperactivity and wild dream. There was no way for her to know exactly how certain Naruto was. “So, you’re in the market for a chakra blade?”

“Two, actually; an Uzu-style kukri for my mainhand and a reliable backup,” Naruto said, turning his attention back to the rack in front of him. He set a kukri in the basket and began scanning for an appropriate offhand blade. “Something narrow, maybe two hands long, with a good straight-back spearpoint…ah, this one will do!” He picked up a long knife similar to what he had described and set that in his basket as well.

“You certainly seem to know your way around blades,” said a gravelly voice.

“Tou-san!” Tenten beamed.

“Hello, Tenten,” he said, raising a hand to pat her on the head. As he was only a few centimeters taller than she, it might have been funny, if it weren’t for the additional fact that he wearing a blacksmith’s apron and was broader than Gai-sensei or Asuma-sensei had ever been, with hands that looked to be big enough to wrap around Naruto’s _legs_ with centimeters to spare. He didn’t think he had ever met Tenten’s father before, but that was no excuse for being rude, was it?

He bowed politely. “I suppose so, sir. I’m no expert, really, but I suppose you could say that I know what I’m looking for.” He glanced around the weapons side of the shop again, but saw nothing close to his Mie kunai. He hadn’t really expected to, but after finding the jacket it wouldn’t have surprised him. “Actually, sir, I’m looking for one more thing in particular that you don’t seem to have in stock; perhaps you can help me?”

“Must be something pretty specific if I don’t already carry it,” he grunted good-naturedly, and Naruto put on his most winning smile. “What is it you’re after?”

“A certain style of kunai, in a matter of speaking,” said Naruto, picking his words carefully. “The blade is about so long,” he gestured with his hands far enough apart to indicate that it was about half again as long as a standard-issue Konoha kunai, “With two additional prongs on either side to protect the hands and help disarm the enemy. That’s why I call ‘em Mie kunai. The handle is longer and thicker than standard also, with a heavy ring at the end; and all weighted and balanced for throwing. If it’s made of the chakra-conductive metal,” he tilted his head at the rack he was still standing in front of, “Even better.”

Tenten’s father stared at him, then walked wordlessly over to the counter, and lifted a box down from a high shelf. He set it on the counter as Naruto and Tenten followed, curious. 

He slid the box over to Naruto. “Is this what you’re picturing?”

Naruto opened the box carefully, and found what was, doubtless, one of his father’s old orders, simply awaiting the Yondaime’s personal Hiraishin seal to be marked on the handle before it could see use. 

“This is really close, yeah!” he said, making himself sound excited that the shop had an example of what he wanted, without letting any surprise seep into his voice. “I’d want a round dozen at least, though. Do you have any more?”

Higurashi-san stared some more as Naruto picked up the Mie kunai easily, and began testing the edge and balance. He twirled it from a forward to a reverse grip several times, then bounced it in his palm to check the weight. 

Then he nodded, apparently satisfied, laid the Mie kunai gently back in the box that Higurashi-san had presented, and asked, “How much?” 

Higurashi-san didn’t answer right away. His eyes flicked from Naruto’s face, to the Mie kunai, to the flame-pattern on the jacket he was carrying. After several long moments, the man seemed to decide something.

“Tenten will total up what’s in your basket,” he growled finally. “That jacket, I don’t think I would ever have sold, so consider it yours on the house. As for this…” he glanced down at the Mie kunai in its box, “If you’re going to want as many as you say, I’ll let you take this one with you today if you place the order.”

Tenten lifted the basket from his arms and began counting out what it would cost. Naruto nodded to Higurashi, and leaned on the counter as the blacksmith pulled a pad and pen from a pocket of his apron, ready to take down specifics.

“Let’s call it two dozen for the first order,” said Naruto. “I’d like them basically identical, except the prongs should be straight, not curved like this one.” Naruto gestured to indicate what he meant, and Higurashi nodded his understanding. “The chunin exams start in less than a week; do you think you can get me a few by then?”

“Three of your new style, plus this one you’re taking today,” said Higurashi.

“That’s fine,” Naruto nodded. “There’s a month’s delay between the second and third rounds of the exams, so that should be plenty of time.”

“How do you know there’s a month’s delay?” asked Tenten. “Our sensei won’t tell us anything about the chunin exams, and none of the current chunin that I know will either.”

“Ehh…” said Naruto, thinking fast. “The…old man let that one slip,” he adlibbed quickly. “But then he realized what he was saying and that I was still in the room, and clammed up before I could get anything else out of him.” He snapped his fingers, to all appearances disappointed that he hadn’t been better able to con the Hokage himself.

“Either way, you’re correct. I should be able to fill at least half your order then, easily,” said Higurashi-san, making some calculations in the corner of his notepad. “If you’ll pay for part of this order up front, I’ll take the balance on completion. Tenten-chan, what’s his total so far?”

“Um, ignoring the jacket and the specialty item, he’s got two chakra blades, some wire, senbon, mesh armour, and fingerless, steel-backed gloves. I make it…4500 ryou the basket,” she rattled off.

“Plus your order of two dozen…Mie kunai…at the best price I can figure… I place your commission at about 24,000 ryou. We’ll say a third of that today plus your basket brings you to 12,500.” He glanced up, perhaps expecting Naruto to gasp in shock or protest that he could not afford it.

Naruto wasn’t even looking up, instead focused on carefully counting out rolls of notes from Gama-chan. When he reached the correct figure, he counted it again, and then passed it carefully across the counter. 

Both Tenten and her father stared at him.

“Eheheh…” he chuckled embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck. “I uh…I don’t have a bank account, so I kinda have to carry all my money with me.”

Higurashi merely nodded, and began smoothing out some of the more wrinkled bills so they would stow in the till. Tenten was not so reticent. 

“How in the world do you have that much cash as a genin!?”

“Ano…my first C-rank mission was misranked. We fought the Kiri rogue-nin Momochi Zabuza and his apprentice.” He shrugged. “Since then, Wave country has been funneling us money and business to make up for the deception.”

“You fought Momochi Zabuza?” Tenten repeated weakly.

“Well, Kakashi-sensei did, mostly. We fought his apprentice, the ice-user.”

Tenten seemed speechless, so Naruto took the opportunity to shrug on his new jacket, gather up his purchases, and wave energetically at the father and daughter. “Thanks for everything, Higurashi-san, Tenten-chan!”

Stowing everything in his jacket for now, he set off to find a stationary shop and then a grocery market.

* * *

By the next day, most of the village seemed to have rapidly adjusted to Naruto’s new wardrobe. Not that it was wildly different overall, he supposed, since you couldn’t see his mesh armour under his Uzumaki tee-shirt, or his new weapons under his jacket, and the jacket itself was still, of course, orange. He had somewhat expected the old man to demand to see him, but there had been no such summons, so perhaps the Hokage had no comments about Naruto’s new fashion statement.

…or perhaps he had something to do with the way Kakashi-sensei had been tailing Naruto ever since they got back to the village.

Naruto had been concerned at first, thinking it was an enemy, but after he had accidentally-on-purpose stumbled across his watcher and discovered his teacher, he realized that something he had said or done must have unnerved his ever-paranoid mentor. Well, there was nothing he could do about the past—not that such a sentence didn’t merit a huge smirk—so he resolved to put Kakashi’s mind at ease by acting like his usual self. And so he had refrained from making any seals last night, and ignored his newly-bought groceries in favor of a dinner of ramen from Ichiraku’s, which was still resolutely the best meal available in either version of his past.

Naruto had held off on training for the time being too, since Kakashi seemed content to let them test at the level they were at. The chunin exams would be starting tomorrow, which also meant that many of the candidates should be arriving over the next twenty-four hours… 

No sooner had he thought that, as he crossed the road, head bowed in concentration, was he abruptly slammed into. With the balance he had come to possess over the course of years’ training in Shioken taijutsu and Gama-ryuu kenjutsu, Naruto kept his feet easily. The person who had walked into him, by contrast, fell to the floor.

“Hey, watch it, shrimp!”

Naruto blinked in shock and looked down at the person he had collided with. It was a brown-haired boy wearing a baggy, black jumpsuit with a twin-pointed hood and a Sunagakure hitai-ite. He also had some stupid-looking purple makeup on his face, and was carrying a large bundle of bandages, which Naruto recognized as the puppet Crow. He promptly extended a hand to help Kankurou back to his feet.

The boy took it, scowling, but Naruto was already looking past him to his companion—a tall pretty blonde with her hair tied in four distinctive tails. She wore a white dress with mesh around the collar, and her hitai-ite around her neck. Unable to resist the opportunity to act a little characteristically ridiculous, he swept Temari a deep bow and extended a hand. When she took it, he even brushed a kiss across her knuckles.

“Uzumaki Naruto, at your service, good Suna-nin,” he said grandly. He glanced back at Kankurou and added, “Sorry about the trouble. You guys are here for the chunin exams, I guess?”

Temari introduced herself and her brother with a smile, and answered, “Yes, our sensei is checking us in right now.”

Where was Gaara? “Er, don’t you need a team of three for the exams?” he said, feigning awkwardness. Temari and Kankurou suddenly froze, as Naruto felt a presence behind him. “He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?” he asked Temari. She nodded faintly, and he turned around to see Gaara looking him right in the eye. They were of a height, and Naruto watched Gaara’s eyes carefully as the other boy took in his jacket. That look in his eye…recognition? Did that mean Gaara remembered the future too? How could he be sure?

“Hang on,” Naruto said, tilting his head as he looked at Gaara. “I think I’ve heard of you guys. Yeah, the Sand Siblings; Temari, Kankurou…and you must be Gaara!” 

The other boy just stared back passively.

“Wait, you’ve heard of Gaara and you’re not scared of him?” Kankurou asked, weakly.

“Nah, of course not!” said Naruto, chuckling. “Look at him, with those rings around his eyes; I bet he’s as harmless as a _tanuki!_ ”

Temari and Kankurou seemed too appalled to speak.

“They are not a creature to underestimate,” Gaara spoke at last. “But no doubt you know that. From the look of you, I can tell you are as sly as a _fox_.”

Naruto’s grin widened so much that his eyes squinted. This _was_ his Gaara. “You know, I _do_ get that a lot. Or I used to,” he chuckled. “And maybe there’s something to that old saying about the fox and the tanuki, ne? Say, you wanna get some ramen? My treat!”

“…Yes. Thank you.” Gaara followed him up the street without another word, leaving his siblings staring after them.

“Did Gaara…just make a friend?” Kankurou whispered. Temari nodded silently.

“Temari, Kankurou, why aren’t you coming?” Gaara called back, Naruto bobbing impatiently beside him. “The way you’re always hanging back, it’s like you’re afraid I'm going to kill you.”

“…Did Gaara just tell a joke!?” Kankurou whimpered. Unable to articulate a response, Temari just grabbed him by the shoulder and steered him after their younger brother and his new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** The markings on Shukaku are supposedly “natural” cursed seal markings; the same thing that cause the transformation and madness in Juugo and Orochimaru’s other cursed-marked servants. It makes sense to me as a way to explain Shukaku’s insanity, early on. 
> 
> Naruto’s reactions to being touched or awoken unexpectedly are pretty typical of PTSD, even if he tends to otherwise handle himself pretty well. It’s always worse when one’s guard is down. Here, it’s a mark of the time he spent in a much more dangerous future, just as him calling Kakashi “taichou” (meaning ‘captain’) reflect his somewhat-different relationship with the man in the years that have now been undone.
> 
> Yagura’s, B’s, and Yugito’s scenes pretty much wrote themselves. Roshi’s was a little more intricate, because I had to kinda backbuild his relationship with the Tsuchikage Onoki. The way I see it, they were teammates once, but had a falling-out at the end of the last war when Onoki and Sarutobi finally agreed to a peace treaty. Roshi stormed out, and it was a mark of their old friendship and his worth a jinchuuriki that instead of being labeled a rogue, Onoki instead declared him ‘on permanent leave’. Now, though, Roshi knows that Iwa’s and the world’s best odds lie in alliance.
> 
> “Mie” means “triple”; Naruto is referring to Triple Kunai, which is his name for the type of Kunai the Fourth Hokage favored. The Fourth instead called them Hiraishin Kunai, but Future!Naruto preferred not to tip his hand with the name. Higurashi appears to be the fanon-determined family name for Tenten, and nothing in canon contradicts this so…there we are, I guess. I decided to call their family shop “Kotetsu Ryuu”, meaning “Steel Dragon”. Also, the wiki tells me that a ryou is worth about 10 yen, so I toyed with what I thought were reasonable prices for Naruto’s gear. Aside from the Mie kunai, Naruto’s equipment is approximately the weapons I would personally favor…though I would probably also have a couple of trench knives like Asuma’s. 
> 
> I am having so much fun writing Gaara; you guys just have no idea. The ‘old saying’ Naruto refers to is, roughly: “A fox and a tanuki matching their wits”, meaning two sly characters trying to outsmart one another.


	3. Plans and Changes

“Sooo… Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Naruto asked Gaara as he set down his third drained bowl of ramen.

“The Chunin Exams,” Gaara replied in his usual monotone, still halfway through his first bowl. “Delicious noodle soup. You, eating like a savage.”

Naruto shrugged unapologetically. “Everything still on schedule?”

“So far as I am aware,” Gaara allowed. “Given our situation, I do not think it unreasonable to assume that those…between us…may also have returned.”

Naruto froze with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, the noodles from his fourth bowl swaying gently. Then he shrugged and returned to eating. “Probably,” he managed through a mouthful. “We’ll have to try to get in contact with B before he messes anything up.”

“I think he will be the least of our worries, Naruto,” Gaara pressed, pushing his finished bowl away and turning slightly to look at his companion. “I believe that _all_ of us may have…returned. We are spread across _every_ nation, if you recall.”

Naruto shrugged again without pausing as he inhaled the remainder of his noodles. “Have you told anyone?” he asked, between setting down his chopsticks and picking up the bowl.

Gaara shook his head. “There is no one who I wish to tell, at present. Have you?”

With yet another roll of his shoulders, Naruto jerked his head toward the Hokage’s tower. “I’m gonna end up telling Jiijii. Kakashi-sensei already suspects something’s up—that’s why he’s following us.”

“I had wondered,” said Gaara, with a breath of sardonicism.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish, “I uh… _woke up_ in the middle of tree hopping, and he grabbed me as I fell. I reacted on instinct. He hasn’t said anything to me, but I’m sure he’s told Jiijii.” He nodded at the Hokage Residence again, making clear who he meant by “Jiijii”.

Gaara grunted. Temari and Kankurou were simply staring between him and Naruto, open-mouthed, their first orders of ramen cooling in front of them. Rolling his eyes, Naruto made his voice eager and young-sounding, “Are you guys gonna finish those?” He indicated their food. “Because I will…” They both blinked and returned to eating. Naruto turned away to ‘pout’.

“What are you going to do about…about your predecessor?” Naruto added quietly to Gaara. Gaara had become the Godaime Kazekage after his father, the Yondaime, had been killed and impersonated by Orochimaru during these very Chunin exams. By the fact that Gaara was here and had indicated the plans for the invasion were still on schedule, the replacement would happen sometime within the next month.

“I do not believe the…switch…has yet occurred,” Gaara replied, his voice only as low as ever, knowing that Temari and Kankurou were unlikely to try very hard to overhear him at this point in—the past? the present? “If everything proceeds as planned, I expect that allowing it to happen will be…necessary.”

Naruto put down his bowl, and placed a comforting hand on Gaara’s shoulder. Temari and Kankurou both choked, but Gaara only shut his eyes momentarily.

“Your…concern is appreciated,” he whispered to Naruto. “But we all must do what is necessary. A second chance does not mean that all cannot go wrong again.”

Naruto nodded firmly and got to his feet. “I’ve got the bill today, Teuchi-oji-san,” he told the proprietor, who nodded. “I’ll see you three in the Exams,” he added to the siblings, and strolled out of the ramen stand.

“We will need to make plans, Uzumaki,” Gaara’s voice carried out to him through the curtain.

“Sure, sure,” said Naruto. “You know where to find me.”

As Naruto walked away, he heard Temari haltingly ask Gaara if he had somehow met Naruto before. He could almost see the invisible smirk on Gaara’s face as he said that this was his first meeting with a brother by circumstance. Naruto sighed and placed both his hands behind his head, drawing his orange coat open so the red Uzumaki spiral showed clearly on his chest. 

Gaara had certainly given him plenty to think about. If the other jinchuuriki were indeed back, then he had a lot more work to do a lot sooner than he thought. There was no time now, but his month between the second and third stages of the exams was going to be busy as hell. This would mean stepping up his plans…he could no longer delay in working out his Hiraishin formula—bound to be different now than it had been before—because he would need the Hiraishin to reliably visit other countries during the month break, and still be back in Konoha in time for the exams. He wondered idly if Gaara would accompany him. Together they would make a more convincing argument if they were stopped along the line—even though Suna and Konoha were allied, nin rarely found friends between them. Or rather, that had been the case until Naruto and Gaara made it otherwise as…brothers by circumstance…

Naruto’s smile stretched his eyes again.

* * *

Less than a block away, Hyuuga Hinata wondered what Naruto was pondering, and what had made him so happy. Whatever it was, she was glad of it—Naruto often plastered a grin on his face, especially when he was troubled, but it was often transparent to one who had watched him as much as she had. For once, she had not been…reconnoitering him…she had simply been out in the district and noticed his face in the crowd which, as ever, parted slightly around him. He did not seem to care however; this smile was completely genuine, and it lifted her heart even as she felt butterflies in her stomach, and a lingering anxiety that _she_ would certainly never cause him to smile like that… Oh, what if he was so happy because he had finally gotten a date with Sakura?

Before she could work herself into a real depression, Naruto paused. Hinata was not as good at lip-reading as many of her clan, but she had activated her byakugan almost by instinct when she had noticed him, and she was something of an expert on Naruto. She saw him mouth to himself, “Why am I being followed by _two_ people?”, and she froze, panicking, wondering how he could possibly have detected her. 

Before she could carry the thought further—for instance, to wonder why there was anyone else following him—Naruto had slipped into a nearby alleyway, and then vanished. How had he done that? Naruto had so much chakra that he seemed to glow like a beacon to her dojutsu. At times, she thought he might even have more chakra than their sensei, but she supposed the teachers must simply be too talented at hiding their strength for her poor potential to detect. She turned her head this way and that, despite it being unnecessary to do so with her byakugan active, but she couldn’t see Naruto’s distinctive signature anywhere.

“Hinata?” said Naruto’s voice.

Hinata squeaked and whirled around to find that Naruto was adhering to the wall behind her, and had been crouching precisely in the byakugan’s secret blind spot. As she tried to calm down from wondering frantically how he could have possibly known she was watching him, it suddenly occurred to her instead that she was alone in an alley with her crush, who was looking at her curiously. She shut her eyes, deactivating her bloodline, and blood rushed into her cheeks. The world spun under her feet as it all became too much, and she fainted. 

Her last conscious recollection was of Naruto’s voice saying, “Hina—oh, _damn_!”

* * *

Five minutes later, Naruto was glaring at the gates of the Hyuuga estate. He had knocked as well as he could given that he was carrying the unconscious Hinata, and when a voice from within had inquired who he was, he had announced himself without thinking. The Hyuuga within had, of course, promptly left without opening the door when he heard that Uzumaki Naruto was knocking, merely calling back that he had better not prank the compound. It appeared the fool had not even bothered to use his byakugan to see past the door, because he hadn’t made any mention of Naruto holding his heiress.

Scowling, Naruto weighed his options. If he knocked again, they were likely to get angry. Seeing him with the unconscious Hinata, they were likely to jump to the worst conclusions. Naruto was not about to take a beating for no reason, but fighting Hinata’s family would not endear him to anybody. He could sneak in, he had no doubt, but being caught _inside_ the Hyuuga compound with the unconscious heiress in his arms somehow struck him as an even worse prospect. He couldn’t take her back to his own place—for one thing, she would probably faint straight away again if she woke up in his bed—and he certainly wasn’t about to just leave her here on the street.

“Excuse me.” Naruto’s frustrated musings were interrupted by a cold, clipped voice, and he turned to see Hinata’s father, the clan head Hyuuga Hiashi, sweeping toward him. “May I ask what you are doing outside my compound, holding my daughter?” His tone made it abundantly clear that the question was an order.

Naruto inclined his head as respectfully as he could with the girl in his arms. His jacket spread around his ankles, and he saw Hiashi’s eyes dart toward the black flames on the hem.

“My apologies, Hiashi-dono,” Naruto said smoothly, drawing the Hyuuga head’s eyes back to his face. He was pleased that he could actually read the surprise in the older man’s expression—the Hyuuga were masters of concealing their thoughts—but the combination of addressing him by his given name and an honorific suitable for one clan head to another, coming from who he obviously saw as a street ruffian, had given him pause. 

Naruto smirked internally. Seeing people’s reaction to his political interactions had always been amusing when he was Hokage, for the brief period before open war, and returning to the past promised to extend that entertainment. “I was in the market and felt myself being observed. It made me nervous, but when I found it was my classmate I relaxed.” He shifted the girl slightly in his arms. “Evidently I startled her, however.”

Hiashi was looking at him a little suspiciously, and he was plainly watching for any tic or sign that Naruto was lying, but overall Naruto was a little surprised by the Hyuuga head’s attitude toward him. He would have expected far more hostility, even if it was cold—the man had been adamantly against his assuming the Hokage’s seat in the future, and had remained a prominent devil’s advocate during the war, even when he actually agreed with Naruto’s decisions.

“I know that I can leave her safely in your hands, Hiashi-dono,” Naruto added, as the silence stretched. He extended his arms slightly so that Hiashi could retrieve his daughter, and the motion seemed to decide Hiashi on a course of action.

“Please, bring her inside, Uzumaki-san.” He strode past Naruto and opened the door with a flash of chakra. A quick glance at the inside as he passed revealed a number of seal tags attached to the inside. He couldn’t read all of them so quickly, but it appeared that a given one would react if someone knocked, another if the door was opened without chakra identification or with the wrong signature, and yet another—the one currently glowing—if a correct signature was used. Presumably the latter prevented some minor sort of alarm from being sounded, which an unauthorized access would set off.

Naruto considered all this as he followed the Hyuuga head down two hallways, ignoring the dirty looks he received from Hyuuga main family and branch family members alike. Really, their whole clan divide was ridiculous, because all of them seemed to have that same general hauteur. Except Hinata, of course. She had always been sweet to him, in the other future, and he had an inkling that she might have been sweet _on_ him, but had never had much time to devote to things like dating. Still, Hinata had been one of his precious people in the future, and he would take care of her now.

His thoughts were cut off again—he seemed to be losing himself in thought more and more often lately—by Hiashi sliding open a door on their right, and directing Naruto inside. He entered as instructed, and promptly blushed when he realized he had walked into Hinata’s bedroom. Precious person or not, this wasn’t quite proper. Even Ero-sennin would have objected… 

Naruto cut off that train of thought ruthlessly. His…second teacher…was still one of his sore points, and he knew it, but he couldn’t afford to start crying in front of Hiashi. Instead, he laid Hinata gently on her bed and immediately backed out of the room again. He then asked politely, “Was there something else you needed, Hiashi-dono?”

Hiashi said nothing, but slid the door closed again and turned away in a manner that indicated Naruto was to follow him. Naruto gave a tiny sigh, but did so. The clan head led him to a small sitting room, then knelt seiza on a mat and gestured for Naruto to sit opposite him. Hiashi clicked his fingers, and a panel on the side wall slid back, admitting a branch family member laden with a tea service and short bottle of sake. 

Naruto said nothing as he was served the tea, recognizing _what_ his host was doing, though not why. This was how he had been greeted by the more formal of his allies in the other future; often by the heads of the Aburame or Akimichi—Konoha’s other two noble clans once the Uchiha fell—or by the daimyo or visiting dignitaries. He had never, however, received or even expected such from Hyuuga Hiashi.

When Hiashi, too, had been served, Naruto inclined his head respectfully and raised the teacup to his lips, holding it gingerly with both hands and waiting for his host to drink first. This was both good manners, and good sense—they had been served from the same vessel, so if Hiashi drank, the tea was unlikely to be poisoned. Not that the Hyuuga had any particular reason to poison him, or that poisoning the tea was the only way to accomplish it if they did wish to…

Naruto mentally shook himself. He was being overly paranoid. He was in the past, in a world not yet at war. He had done nothing to merit assassination yet, and nobody except the Hokage, Jiraiya, and Kakashi even knew who he really was. In any case, poison was dishonorable, and would be out of character for the Hyuuga, who thought their nobility unimpeachable.

He drank his tea slowly, savoring it—a finer quality than he would be able to enjoy for some time again—until both their cups were dry, and still neither of them had said a word. As the tea service was cleared away and the sake bottle left with two dishes, Hiashi at last met Naruto’s eye instead of gazing impassively into the middle distance.

The branch member left, bowing, and slid the door shut behind him. When Hiashi didn’t move, Naruto made to serve the sake, against tradition. This seemed to jar his host from a reverie, and his hand shot out to gracefully take up the bottle first. He served Naruto first, then himself, and set the bottle back between them.

“It would seem I have…underestimated you, Uzumaki-san,” said Hiashi at last.

Naruto tilted his head, unashamed to show his confusion. “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand, Hiashi-dono.”

“You have…a reputation as a prankster, of course, and something of a…” Hiashi hesitated, though Naruto couldn’t tell if it was from choosing his words or concern that he might give offense. “A ne’er-do-well,” he finished. 

Naruto blinked. Perhaps both? He shook his head slightly to rid it of that thought. “I…see…” he temporized, indicating that the clan head should continue.

Hiashi seemed to ponder his next words, then said, “Please correct me if I am mistaken, Uzumaki-san, but given your attire and choice of address, I cannot help but believe you may be more…aware of your origins than is commonly believed.”

Naruto snorted, he couldn’t help himself. He took his dish of sake and drained it, then replied, “There is nothing to correct in your impression, Hiashi-dono.” Mixing the polite with the uncouth was something that came naturally to Naruto, and he never hesitated to do so.

“I see,” Hiashi echoed. “And is the Hokage aware of this?”

“If he isn’t yet, he will be soon,” said Naruto, carelessly. “The old man isn’t stupid, and he sees a lot with that crystal ball of his.”

“And are you, yourself, aware that you were followed here?” Hiashi pressed.

“I am aware of one watcher, by whom I do not feel threatened. Are there others by whom I would be?” Naruto shot back.

Hiashi’s byakugan pulsed and released so quickly that the veins of his temple did not even bulge, and Naruto would not have noticed if he weren’t so familiar with the particular sheen the Hyuuga’s white eyes took on when the bloodline was active.

“No, the only people nearby who have an interest of you are your teacher, and my daughter.” Hiashi leaned forward. “May I ask what your intentions are toward my daughter?”

Naruto stared, glad he had finished his drink, because he would likely have choked at that monent. “Intentions? We’re both twelve!” he exclaimed. Kurama huffed a laugh, somewhere in the recesses of Naruto’s mind. Hiashi seemed to relax, but only very slightly.

“You must be aware by now that my daughter thinks quite highly of you. Until today, I must confess I disapproved. I do not think that Hinata is strong enough to succeed me.” Naruto’s eyes flashed at the implied insult to his precious person, and Hiashi continued more quietly, “But having observed you today, Uzumaki-san, you seem far more mature than you are given credit for. You remind me, if I may say so, of your father nearly as much as your mother, now.”

Naruto felt his eyebrows contract, but he said nothing.

“Let me rather ask, then, what you _think_ of Hinata,” said Hiashi. “It is common knowledge that you struggled in the Academy, but still you graduated, and it is plain to me that you have made great strides since then. What is your opinion of my daughter?”

“I think that she is a lot stronger than anyone realizes,” Naruto replied at once. “Herself included. I understand that many of your clan dislike her apparent timidity and gentle nature, but I think they are great strengths undermined by a lack of confidence…which she lacks because she has so rarely been told, in her life, that she has done well. Her self-esteem suffers each time that she is told, not how to improve or what she has done correctly, but only that she is not good enough. 

“Hinata is a kind soul and would not readily battle for conquest. She dislikes causing others harm, and would more happily learn to cooperate so that people can live in peace. But, as the Shodai himself wrote, ‘The central tenet of the Will of Fire is that love is the key to peace. Although battle is often central to a shinobi’s existence, it must be remembered always that violence is _not_ strength and compassion is _not_ weakness.’ All of the Hokage have believed in that message, and so do I. 

“Then, not even twenty years ago, the Yondaime gave a speech which I will paraphrase: ‘Only when a person has something precious to protect can they become truly strong.’ 

“Hinata will not fight for herself, because she has been raised to believe that she is worthless. But if she were to fight to protect the people she loves—her sister, her cousin, her village—you would see her become a tigress.”

Hiashi was openly staring. Naruto got to his feet, and inclined his head yet again. Future or past, he didn’t bow to anyone, but there was no need to be disrespectful. “Good day, Hiashi-dono.”

Hiashi remained sitting on the cushion, his sake dish untouched, until dinnertime, ruminating on the young blond boy’s words, and wondering if he was really the same boy who had graffitied the Hokage Monument only a few months before.

* * *

Terumi Mei swept into Kirigakure like a queen. She wore the Mizukage’s hat and robe, altered to accentuate her generous curves, and a smile that was at once kindly and firm. She was flanked by her retainer, Choujuurou, with Hiramekarei on his back, and by an ANBU with a mask painted to resemble a turtle. Ao strode along behind her, grumbling at his usual position being usurped, but even he had grudgingly agreed that having an ANBU visible at Mei’s shoulder would help give the impression they wanted: a Water country willing to look unified, behind a leader standing for reunification and the end of the civil war.

Within their entourage was a casket with a window over the face, showing the face—peaceful in death—of Midorikatabami Yagura. His trademark hooked staff was just visible, apparently clasped in his hands.

As they crossed the lake to the Mizukage’s tower, the Turtle-masked ANBU open the door and swept Mei a bow before vanishing in a haze of shimmering mist. Ao moved back up to her left side as she sat down at the kage’s desk as though her appointment to the position was a foregone conclusion. She folded her hands upon it calmly, and waited for the daimyo’s messengers to arrive.

* * *

Kakashi was nearing his wit’s end. Constantly watching Naruto doing nothing was frustrating enough in itself, if only because Kakashi would not have believed it for a second even before…whatever had changed. Naruto trying to play innocent now, when he had changed his wardrobe, equipment, and apparently his entire attitude, and could actually slip away sometimes if Kakashi wasn’t careful, was just sad. The rather pathetic attempts to pretend that nothing was different, even as his clothes and movements and ability to use Shunshin silently contradicted him, actually convinced Kakashi more than ever that whatever the change was, there was no impostor—this was still Naruto.

Naruto had carried Hinata back home after she had collapsed, in itself not unusual. What was unusual was that Hyuuga Hiashi had invited Naruto inside, where he had remained for nearly half an hour. When the blond had emerged, he had been unescorted—also unusual—and appeared deep in thought until he realized that he was out in the street, at which point his face carefully blanked.

It was strange. With the new gear Naruto had bought, he should be training incessantly if he planned to use them in the exam, but instead he seemed entirely confident. Indeed, it seemed more as if he was simply picking up things he already knew how to use. And then there was the fact that he had bought one of his father’s old Hiraishin kunai from the blacksmith, and had apparently placed an order for more of them. Between that and his new coat, could Naruto possibly know about his parents? And when had Naruto learned Shunshin no jutsu anyway? His use of it to startle Hinata, apparently having sensed her watching him, had been way beyond genin level. Was it possible he had just been holding back ever since the Academy? But why do that, and why change it now?

Following his student with his book out, simply so that he would not seem out of character if he was spotted, Kakashi noted idly that Naruto seemed to be heading for his apartment. Well, that would make him easier to keep track of. Sure enough, his student hopped to the rooftop, then jumped and adhered to the wall of his building with far more ease than Kakashi would have expected a mere week ago. He paused for a moment outside his own window, likely to bypass some of his rather ingenious pranks-turned-traps, then slipped inside. After giving him ten minutes to settle in and get complacent about being followed, Kakashi vanished—to the untrained eye, anyway—and appeared on a rooftop across the street with an unblocked line-of-sight to Naruto’s window.

Inside, he saw the blond puttering about with a kettle for tea, or more likely, for ramen. Sure enough, Naruto retrieved a styrofoam cup of dehydrated noodles from his cupboard, not unlike he had done many other nights under Kakashi’s and other ANBUs’ watches, before the Hokage had deemed Naruto competent enough to live without the constant supervision. As he waited for the water to boil, though, Naruto broke routine by grabbing a cutting board and kitchen knife, and quickly dicing up a carrot and a spring onion. When he poured the boiling water into the noodles, he also quickly added the vegetables and a few slices of narutomaki—of _course_ it would be narutomaki—then cracked an egg in, before covering it to let it cook. Kakashi blinked. That was…not necessarily beyond Naruto’s culinary skill, but it struck him as something the boy simply wouldn’t have thought of, not long ago.

While waiting for his food to be ready, Naruto vanished into his bedroom, then returned to the kitchen table with a scroll, ink, and brush. He spread the paper out on the table and promptly began scribbling. At one point he got up, measured his own height against the doorframe, then sat back down. When three minutes had passed, he pushed the work aside, inhaled his dinner, then took up the brush once more. 

From where he stood, Kakashi couldn’t see what his student was scribbling, so he jumped over to the building just as Naruto had done earlier. He padded higher up the wall, and leaned down slightly to peer into Naruto’s window near the ceiling. And nearly fell off the building. _Was Naruto…_

_…doing math!?_

He was unable to keep himself from staring. What could his student possibly be doing? Was this linked to his odd behavior somehow? Naruto had never cared about academics, even when he was in the Academy—he was too much of a hands-on learner. And yet here he was, intently going over equations and nibbling the end of his brush as he checked his work.

From what Kakashi could see, not all of it was simple math, either; some of it was based on what he thought might be Naruto’s own height and mass, but there were other calculations that looked like jerk vectors and fluid displacement—the sort of thing Kakashi had seen on the desks of Ninjutsu developers, not twelve-year-old genin. He simply sighed. Yet more suspicious behavior…with no grounds for confrontation. The only thing truly particularly suspect about Naruto at all was the piece of…evidence?…Kakashi had picked from Naruto’s jacket when the boy had hugged him the first day he began acting strangely. Naruto hadn’t seemed to notice it missing, but both Kakashi and the Hokage had been gravely concerned. 

Kakashi hopped away from Naruto and spared a few hours to check up on his other students, but neither was acting any differently than usual, or than expected. Sasuke was training almost to exhaustion—he should really make a point of telling him to go easy with the exams only a few days away—and Sakura seemed to be pacing frantically around her room and chewing her hair. Well, he hadn’t been planning on it, but perhaps he should call a team meeting tomorrow. It would be the day before the exams began, and it looked like they could do with both some encouragement and a reminder that they were a team. Kakashi heaved a sigh. Hopefully the latter would be something he could eventually stop having to _remind_ them of.

* * *

The day of the chunin exams dawned bright, and a little chilly for Konoha, which of course meant that the temperature would still be considered extremely mild. Civilians might wear a thin jacket, but nin were unlikely to even notice the slightly larger amount of chakra they would need to regulate in order to keep comfortable.

Naruto met up with Sakura and Sasuke con his way out of _Kotetsu Ryuu_. Higurashi-san had outdone himself, providing not three Mie kunai as he had promised, but four. Naruto had one of them out to test the weight and balance—perfect, as expected—when he nearly bumped into his teammates. Sasuke looked the same as ever, but Sakura had her long hair pulled back in a tight braid.

“Oh, hey guys!” He exclaimed. “Great; we can head over to the Academy together! I wonder why they hold it there?” He had a good idea, of course, but he was getting better at pretending around his teammates. “I guess probably there isn’t anywhere else to administer a written test to so many people,” he answered his own question before the others could.

“Written test?” Sasuke repeated, skeptically.

“Well, why else would they tell us to go there instead of the stadium?” Naruto demanded.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, but said quietly, “He has a point.”

Sasuke’s lips twisted, but he gave a reluctant nod. His eyes found the knife sitting easily in Naruto’s grip. “What’s that, Loser?”

“Mie kunai,” Naruto answered, as though he had taken the insult as an endearment. “Actually…” he reached into his coat and produced another one, subtly squeezing them and imprinting his seal on the handle of each. “I got one for each of you, as a celebration for entering the chunin exams! They’re really good kunai!” He extended the knives ring-first, and each of his teammates took them slowly. Once his hands were empty, he stuffed one in his pocket and scratched the back of his head with the other. “I figure you can use ‘em in a pinch and today’s a good day for it, but you might just want to keep ‘em as as a memento. Just make sure you pick ‘em back up if you have to throw ‘em. They were expensive.”

Both of his teammates were staring at the knives, wondering why in the world _Naruto_ would have bought something like this. With the pay they had received from their A-rank mission, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have the money, but it just seemed…strange, somehow.

“I wanted to get one for each of us,” Naruto continued, apparently oblivious to their confusion, but slowly putting them more at ease with each word. “As a sort of Team 7-thing. But I could only afford two.” A harmless lie. With any luck, he wouldn’t face anything today he couldn’t handle without resorting to Hiraishin. Once he used Hiraishin, the game would be up—unless there were no witnesses whatsoever, he would never be able to talk his way out of being able to perform the Yondaime’s signature, legendary, _lost_ spacetime ninjutsu.

It had taken him almost eighteen months to recreate it in the other future, and that was with his father’s old notes to work from. Now…hell, he would probably have to make the announcement of his parentage prematurely. Though, he still thought it was only a matter of time before Sandaime-Jiijii called him in for a chat, and he knew he couldn’t—wouldn’t—lie to Jiijii. 

Even so, Naruto had spent most of yesterday tagging important places around town, like his own apartment, the Uchiha compound, Ichiraku’s, his father’s head on the Monument, and even the window outside Jiijii’s office. He had even managed to place one inside the office, albeit above the drop ceiling. As long as he was focusing when he went, he should be able to appear in the office itself instead of inside the ceiling. Hopefully. There hadn’t exactly been time to test that one. Then he’d had to scamper to arrive at the team meeting, only slightly less late than Kakashi, before heading home to find Gaara waiting for him.

“Anyway, where are we supposed to go?” he prompted as they reached the Academy. “Third floor, wasn’t it? Wait, don’t the front stairs only go to the second floor?”

Sakura nodded. “If we go to the staircase down the hall by Iruka-sensei’s classroom, we can go straight up,” she said hesitantly. Naruto led the way there instantly. Sasuke, who had been about to turn toward the front staircase, slouched after him instead without a word. Sakura followed, smiling faintly.

Kakashi-sensei was waiting by the door on the third floor. “Oh, good,” he said, snapping his book shut. “I’m glad you all made it. Especially you, Sakura; I guess our team meeting did some good?”

They all thought back to the previous day, and shuddered. None of them acknowledged it. Kakashi’s eye crinkled in a smile. “I was a little concerned that you might not all show. Genin _must_ enter the chunin exams in a team of three, after all, but it wouldn’t be fair to pressure one’s teammates into participating, especially during a rookie attempt.”

“Are our other classmates here too, then, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto probed.

“You’ll just have to see once you’re inside,” Kakashi eye-smiled again, twinkling at him. He vanished in a plume of smoke.

Naruto scowled. “If he’s good enough at Shunshin to use it in a closed hallway like this, why does he drop a smoke bomb every time,” he complained, waving at the cloud.

“Huh, I guess you really do have Sharingan no Kakashi for a teacher,” said a new voice.

Team 7 looked around and saw three more people standing in front of the staircase. “Tenten-chan!” Naruto exclaimed, mostly for the others’ benefit, but also to cover up the lurch in his stomach at seeing Lee and Neji again. He had to remind himself forcibly that Neji would be stuck back in his endless whining phase which he thought was brooding. Hopefully he could get through that without hospitalizing his cousin again.

“The exams are not yet due to start,” exclaimed Lee, without introducing himself. “Before we must compete within, I would challenge you, Uchiha Sasuke!”

Sasuke looked at him incredulously, taking in his green jumpsuit, round eyes, and the prominent eyebrows that Naruto had acknowledged in his nickname, Bushy Brows. He had forgotten that Lee had challenged Sasuke, but hopefully they would be able to get inside without either boy showing off.

Sakura seemed to dither on the spot. “Oh, you shouldn’t, you’ll get in trouble…” 

“Oi, oi,” Naruto barked, as Lee started to get into his Gouken opening stance. “We’re here to get promoted, aren’t we? We’re literally standing outside the exam room; you don’t think we’ll get marked down for an unauthorized fight?”

“Oh, come on,” said Tenten, “I wouldn’t mind a good scrap either.” Her eyes slid to the hilt of the blade on Naruto’s left thigh. “Maybe you can prove to me that you can actually use that stuff you bought from Otou-san.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Look, you know two-thirds of the exam is about combat anyway, right? Both field combat and tourney combat. We’ll all get our chance to fight. You guys need to chill.”

He smiled at Team Gai to make the dismissal less rude, but resolutely turned his back and pushed past his teammates to the door of the classroom. Sasuke and Sakura followed him, unsure what else they could do given that Naruto of all people had just backed down when directly challenged—for a good reason, it had to be admitted, but it was still unusual.

The room was about half-full. Naruto supposed that a bunch of people must be caught up in the genjutsu downstairs. Rather than take a seat, Naruto looked around, then moved toward the side wall where Team 8 and Team 10 were standing awkwardly. Naruto placed himself carefully, so that Sasuke and Sakura would pass him, leaving him as the only one with his back to a room full of ‘hostiles’. This might have been intimidating had he actually been twelve. As it was, the pathetic amounts of killing intent being directed at them were downright laughable. Even Sakura and Sasuke seemed barely affected, compared to the other rookies, though that might have been because of meeting Zabuza in the land of Waves. Say what you wanted about Zabuza, the man had damn near weaponized his killing intent. It was a wonder they hadn’t all stabbed themselves, faced with that as fresh genin.

“Hey guys,” Naruto said, conversationally to the other teams. He bumped fists with Kiba and Chouji, and nodded to Shino and Shikamaru. Hinata stopped blushing at the hostile attention being focused on them, and started blushing at having met Naruto’s gaze, poking her fingertips together. Her mouth, though, gave a tiny smile. Ino, who Naruto had not seen since his ‘return’, cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Hmmm…” she said, loudly; she was plainly trying to cover her own discomfort with the sort of false bravado Naruto himself had been known for at this age. “Forehead-girl is right, that jacket _does_ suit you, Naruto.”

Naruto grinned, a little surprised, but pleased he didn’t cut too bad a figure with a jacket that was technically too big for him. Seals could do a lot, but there was no mistaking that Naruto still had some growing to do, and fortunately the coat would now grow with him. Hopefully with a better diet from here on, Naruto would actually get a little taller than he had been in the other future.

Team Gai joined them against the wall, and Naruto started making introductions, offering no explanation for why he knew Lee and Neji. As he rounded them off, he heard an unwelcome voice. “You rookies should really keep it down. Everybody’s on edge; you shouldn’t draw attention to yourselves.”

Naruto stiffened imperceptibly, and his hands curled into fists within the sleeves of his coat. “Can you hear someone talking?” he growled pointedly to Sasuke, trying not to grind his teeth. Kurama was snarling in the back of Naruto’s mind, and Naruto had to work hard to keep the Kyuubi’s chakra fully contained. His teammates both looked mildly surprised at his show of open dislike, when Naruto was usually gregarious to the point of irrationality. Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata all seemed to pick up on this too, and the dozen of them drew slightly closer together. No one seemed willing to engage Kabuto in conversation, answering his prodding questions only with clipped replies, and eventually he seemed to give up and move away. Naruto—honestly surprised at how quickly and how _well_ the twelve of them had begun reading each other—was saved from having to explain himself by the arrival of the bearlike proctor, Morino Ibiki, head of Konoha’s Torture and Interrogation department.

“Shut up and find your seats,” he roared unnecessarily. His intimidating presence in his leather overcoat had caused most of the room to fall silent. All of them scrambled to the seats they had been assigned—Naruto more calmly than most—and found that from where he was sitting, he could make eye contact easily with both his teammates on the other side of the curved lecture hall. He gave them both a thumbs-up, then returned his attention to Ibiki.

The lecture and test were exactly as he remembered them, and glancing down the list of questions, he saw that he could easily answer some of them himself without even having to cheat. He felt eyes on him, and looked up again to catch Sakura looking at him worriedly. He gave her a roguish grin and then immediately began scribbling an answer to the easiest question. He sensed, rather than saw, the relief in her posture from across the room. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to worry about her potentially giving up to save him, as she had nearly done last time. Naruto’s jaw had nearly hit the ground when he had learned that in the other future, hurled at him as an insult, but which he recognized for the gesture of worry and affection that it had been at the time.

Six questions later, Naruto had over half the exam time left and was extraordinarily bored. He supposed he could use the time to finish answering the questions, but he and Gaara had thought it might be more worthwhile to try to get some other teams eliminated. That would be easier to do during the second exam, but if he could knock some teams out now, there would be less work to do later.

He stretched in his seat, looking around very obviously so he couldn’t be accused of cheating by the proctors, and caught Gaara’s eye, off to his right. He jerked his eyes to the left and right, and Gaara smirked, though likely nobody else would have seen the miniscule movement of his face.

“Eyes forward or it’s a mark for you, Twenty-three!” 

Naruto blinked before realizing that meant him. Was that the same number he had been the first time? He didn’t recall. Hadn’t he been sitting beside Hinata last time? He shrugged, turning back to his seat. For Gaara, his sand would likely allow him to sabotage people easily. Naruto would have to be…much less subtle. He sighed silently. At least it was in character.

“Oi!” he shouted suddenly, hunching forward to cover his paper. “Keep your eyes on your own paper, dattebayo!” He glared at the bewildered chunin hopeful sitting next to him, light flashing off his Kusagakure headband.

“That’s three strikes, Twenty-two!” Ibiki barked. “Fifty-six and Seventy-one, you can join your teammate outside!” The entire Hidden Grass team left, including—as according to Naruto’s plan—the pale-faced girl who had been replaced by Orochimaru last time. He didn’t know when that switch had taken place, and didn’t really expect that to completely stop Orochimaru’s plans if they were the same, but he felt some petty satisfaction nevertheless. Kurama snorted inside his head, but didn’t comment.

Naruto didn’t manage to get anyone else kicked out, though he did consider it a victory that he forced Ibiki to “demerit” one of the actual chunin confederates planted in the room, who the actual chunin candidates were supposed to cheat from. Gaara seemed to be faring much better, as far more teams were dismissed than last time even before the final question.

When time was up, and Ibiki began outlining the Impossible Task of the final question, Naruto carefully caught Sakura’s eye again, and winked. She gave a weak sort of smile back, but nodded. Sasuke, behind her, gave a smirk which, though tiny, was infinitely more noticeable than Gaara’s.

Finally, Ibiki dropped the bomb—that anyone who attempted the final question and failed would be forever barred from promotion. At this point in the other future, Naruto had leapt to his feet and started shouting that Ibiki had no right to make such a rule, and that even if he did so, that Naruto would be the first genin to become Hokage. In the end, the joke was on Ibiki, because Naruto’s eventual battlefield promotion _had_ been straight to Kage. Still, Naruto had no desire to be shackled to his old rank again. Being promoted to chunin was about demonstrating tactical fitness and ability to lead, things for which Naruto knew full well that he was overqualified.

The room emptied steadily, but Naruto merely put his feet up on his desk and smiled insolently at Ibiki. Most of the retreating chunin hopefuls didn’t seem to notice his ease, but it looked like Team Kurenai, Team Asuma, and Team Gai all did. By a flurry of glances between them which Naruto didn’t think he was expected to notice. He smirked, his gaze still fixed on Ibiki’s face. The T&I head seemed to be torn between amusement and exasperation that his attitude was keeping all the other rookies in their seats. Still, because the older candidates were still dropping like flies, Ibiki said nothing.

Finally, the last few quitters trickled out, and after a moment’s stillness, Ibiki declared that the rest of them had passed. His mouth twitched as he glanced toward Naruto, but then became stony and serious. He gave his lecture about information being more valuable than lives, and conviction being essential for chunin, before he was interrupted—right on schedule—by a window shattering to reveal a poster proclaiming the arrival of the second proctor, in all her tan-miniskirted and -overcoated glory, Mitarashi Anko.

Naruto’s stomach clenched at the sight of Anko. He had grown close to the purple-haired Tokubetsu Jonin in the other future, sensing a kindred spirit. His desire to remove her Cursed Seal of Heaven was half the reason he had worked so hard to become proficient with fuuinjutsu; at first it was so he could later remove the seal from Sasuke, but eventually it was for her own sake. Anko met his eye as Ibiki had, and he gave her his best foxy grin. She smirked back in her characteristic semi-insane manner, and cried for them to meet her in twenty minutes outside the Forest of Death!

* * *

As with Ibiki’s test, Anko’s description of the second phase of the exams was pretty much as he remembered it. Only nine teams had passed: Team Kakashi, Team Kurenai, Team Asuma, Team Gai, Gaara’s team, Kabuto’s team, a team from Grass, a team from Sound, and a team from Rain.

Naruto was just pondering what, besides the number of teams competing, seemed different from last time, when his instincts screamed and he realized a kunai was flying toward him. Just before it reached him, his hand shot out and caught it, and he instinctively flung it back in the direction it had come from. Then his mind caught up with his hands and he realized that Anko had flung the knife, and that she was now nursing a thin cut on her cheek where she had narrowly dodged his return throw. 

She was biting her lip, looking equal parts impressed and infuriated, and Naruto quickly signed in Konoha handtalk _Sorry. Will buy you dango if you don’t kill me._

Anko’s eyebrows rose almost to her hairline, but she twisted one hand in a handtalk sign that indicated the sealing of a promise. Then she took her hand from her bloodied cheek, licked her fingertips, and spoke normally. 

“Now that we’re all paying attention,” she said pointedly. “I have to ask you all to sign these release forms,” she drew out a storage scroll, “stating that you indemnify Konoha in the event of your death from here on out.”

Once they had all signed the consent forms, she handed each team one of two scrolls, marked Earth or Heaven, and explained that they would be considered passing if they arrived at the tower in the middle of the arena with their full team intact and at least one of each scroll. Thus, only a maximum of four teams could possibly proceed to the final round, and there would be one more scroll of one type than the other.

Since there were so few of them, Anko allowed them to pick their own entry gates as long as there were at least two empty gates between them and another team. Naruto immediately requested the Westernmost gate, which got a curt nod from Sasuke. Naruto caught Gaara’s eye, and the other jinchuuriki quietly claimed the Easternmost gate. This was part of their plan as well: they would both close in on the tower as quickly as possible, and eliminate as many other teams as they could. Of course, they had made this plan not realizing just how efficiently the first exam would eliminate contenders.

Naruto felt a little guilty about it, but he knew all too well that none of his fellow rookies except _maybe_ Shikamaru deserved to be promoted yet, and eliminating them from the exams would simply mean less chance for them to get injured, especially if the Otogakure team managed to slip past him and Gaara. Even the jinchuuriki could only cover so much ground at once, and Orochimaru’s Hidden Sound were not to be underestimated—sonic jutsu were difficult to defend against on the fly.

Anyway, he had chosen the side farther from where the rest of the Konoha squads besides Kabuto’s were beginning, so if his allies got stopped it would likely be by Gaara, but he knew Gaara wouldn’t hurt them. The goal, between them, was to disrupt Orochimaru’s plans. The easiest way would have been to have either Gaara’s team or Naruto’s own knocked out of the tournament, but in so doing they would force Orochimaru to improvise, and they would lose the advantage of knowing what was coming. Hopefully, by entering from a different gate, rushing through the forest to the tower, and being near backup in the form of the Hidden Sand, they could avoid Sasuke being branded with Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal. Naruto could always remove it, but it would tip his hand to Orochimaru too soon.

The starting whistle blew, the instructor opened their gate, and Naruto darted into the forest as fast as he thought his teammates could reasonably follow. Reaching out carefully with his chakra, he found that they had both secured the marked Mie kunai to their backs as a last resort, so there would be no getting separated in a pinch. He had also slipped one to Gaara as they left the first exam room, meaning that he had two left, including his father’s prototype, but since he had told his teammates for expedience that he didn’t have any more, it would be best if he could stick to his other weapons.

“Where are we going, Naruto?” Sakura puffed from behind him, and he forced himself to slow down a little more.

“Anko-ch—Anko-san said the goal is the tower in the middle, and based on how big this training ground is to run around, I figure the middle’s gotta be about ten klicks from where we started. Since we know that’s where everybody else is going, we can stake it out if we get there early enough, and just take every scroll from every team that tries to get by us; reduce the competition for later.” Naruto could sense Sasuke’s eyes on him, but couldn’t see his expression. Since Sasuke didn’t say anything, Naruto chose to take his silence for agreement with the plan, and went on. “What scroll do we have, anyway?”

“We’ve got an Earth scroll,” Sakura replied. “So we’ll need to find a team with a Heaven scroll.”

Hadn’t they had a Heaven scroll last time? Oh well, that sort of difference couldn’t be significant. 

“I agree with Naruto, we should wait to ambush another team near the tower,” said Sasuke unexpectedly. “We can cover ten kilometers in an hour without getting tired or falling for any traps, if somebody manages to beat us there.”

Naruto, too preoccupied with keeping away from Orochimaru to consider how odd it was that Sasuke was agreeing with him, simply nodded and fell silent.

* * *

Gaara’s team also reached the vicinity of the tower within an hour, and spread out to begin setting traps. No sooner was Gaara alone than he was jumped by the remaining Kusagakure squad that had been following them for the last twenty minutes. Within seconds, all three were pinned against nearby trees by his sand.

“What scroll were you given?” Gaara asked the apparent leader. He spat at Gaara, but Shukaku’s defense caught it. The sand restraints on all three tightened enough to make breathing difficult. “I will ask again,” Gaara went on, calmly. 

When again none of them answered, Gaara raised his right hand. “This is your first warning,” he told them, a small stream of sand drifting toward each prisoner. With three small, sickening cracks, he broke each of their right forefingers. 

All three cried out in pain, and one shouted, “Earth, we got an Earth scroll, it’s in his bag!” She rolled her eyes at their third companion, who paled dramatically when Gaara turned to face him. Gaara merely directed his sand into the bag, retrieved the scroll, and then caused his sand to cocoon over the prisoners entirely. After a few moments, he couldn’t feel any of them struggling any longer, and drew the sand back to simple restraints. A quick genjutsu on the unconscious—and thus unable to resist—Kusa-nin, and they would sleep right through the end of the challenge. Gaara used his sand to set their broken fingers, then hardened the sand into a sort of makeshift cast. He bound the three carefully, and laid them against a tree. He would bring them to the tower later. For now, they would sleep.

Gaara glanced at the Earth scroll in his hand. Irritating. His team had been furnished with an Earth scroll by the proctor, so their job was not yet done, and now there was one less chance to avoid eliminating a Konoha team. The so called “Konoha Ten” had been reliable allies in what Gaara thought of as the lost future, and he would avoid harming any of them if humanly possible.

Feeling Shukaku shift in the back of his head, Gaara added sternly, _Or demonically possible. They_ will not _be harmed._ The Ichibi made no reply, but Gaara could almost _feel_ him sulking at being denied bloodshed. _Should we find Orochimaru’s pet medic, you will have blood to spare,_ Gaara promised the tanuki. Shukaku subsided, accepting that, and Gaara settled in to wait.

* * *

Four days later, Team Kakashi had not seen hide nor hair of any other team, and Naruto’s nerves were nearing the breaking point. The first few days had been bad enough, but by the third night, Naruto had insisted that they mount 2-person watches instead, with only one person resting at a time—even though Naruto was also standing watch with more kage bunshin than his teammates could possibly fathom.

Even when it was his turn to sleep, Naruto found himself barely dozing. And the slightest footstep, from Sakura or Sasuke returning from their watch, woke him before they even drew close enough to touch him. Still, there had been no contact from any hostiles, and Naruto was beginning to worry that he would have to stage a fight with Gaara’s team to make sure they actually passed.

He knew from a small message early on the fourth morning that Gaara had fought Kabuto’s team, but that the rogue medic had escaped with his team. Gaara had also engaged and captured Team Kurenai, securing their scroll with no injuries.

“Where the hell _is_ everybo—” Naruto started to complain, then ducked as a shuriken came whistling by. As it thunked into a tree behind him, Naruto drew his kukri and settled into an armed Shioken stance. “About damn time!” he barked. “Let’s go!”

Based on the attack being a single shuriken, and on the miniscule killing intent he could feel, Naruto was sure that whoever was attacking them, it wasn’t Orochimaru. _Where the_ hell _was Orochimaru?_ Naruto felt Sasuke draw in front of Sakura, and he flung out an arm in a handtalk sign, telling Sasuke to stay put. Then Naruto flashed forward in a Shunshin, landing on a tree branch and finding himself immediately surrounded. The three genin participating from Otogakure—what had their names been?—all looked startled by his sudden appearance, and two of them dashed backward, leaving the leader to close with Naruto.

Which one had been the leader? Was it the one with the air jets in his arms? No, that one was behind him, Naruto realized as he had to backflip over the blast of air and sound. And he remembered that the kunoichi on the team had been a senbon-user, which meant the one he was closing with was the one with that weird gauntlet on his arm. That could be an issue—he remembered their leader being clever, and thus the biggest threat. 

Sure enough, the Oto leader swung his arm in a strange arc to make air vibrate across the holes in his Resonating Echo Speaker gauntlet. The sound waves, magnified by his chakra, immediately upset Naruto’s balance, but he was adhering to the branch with chakra. Rather than block the incoming blow, he wrapped his arm fully around Dosu’s gauntlet, muffling the the vibrations and slamming the kukri in his other hand between the Oto-genin’s ribs. He missed the heart, but as he withdrew the knife and leapt away, another blast of air and sound from Zaku behind him blasted Dosu off the branch in pieces, eliminating the greatest threat.

As Naruto landed back on the forest floor, two dozen senbon landed around him with a loud jingling noise. Bells…yes, the senbon-using Sound kunoichi had attached little bells to her needles to disguise the number of senbon flying, and to produce the sound waves for her genjutsu. Naruto caught up the hilt of his kukri with his teeth, growled, “Fuuton: Daikakoukiryuu!” and clenched his hands in the snake seal. A great downdraft centered on him seemed to blast outward, flinging away not only the senbon still flying at him, but all the ones in the ground as well.

Releasing the kukri from his mouth, he caught it in a reverse grip as he dashed forward again, slashing out at the kunoichi—Kin’s—throat, before he could be caught up in any genjutsu. As she fell to the ground, he pulsed his chakra to be sure that her death had not been an illusion, but the moment cost him and Zaku succeeded in blowing him off his feet. Thankfully there were no trees in his way, so he simply rolled back to his feet and flung a kunai back at Zaku, who simply blew it out of the way with his air cannons. The Oto-genin’s face was twisted with rage, but Naruto remained calm. As Zaku raised both his arms again, Naruto used another Shunshin to dash, not directly at him, but slightly to the side. He jumped, turned over, and kicked off a tree to land at the Oto-nin’s side. With a swift elbow bash, be broke Zaku’s left arm, and as Zaku brought his right arm around to blast Naruto away, the blond pressed two fingers into a pressure point in Zaku’s elbow, forcing his good arm to fold. Zaku’s Air Cutter discharged, but his palm was now pointed at his own face. 

Naruto turned away quickly, using a Fuuton jutsu he had invented to expel wind from his pores, causing his clothes to billow around him and the blood coating him to blow away. Once it settled, he created some clones to search the bodies for their team’s scroll, and headed back to their clearing.

Where _was_ Orochimaru? The Sound team last time had said that their mission was to kill Sasuke, but Orochimaru’s actual plan had been for them to test Sasuke’s abilities with the Cursed Seal. But Orochimaru hadn’t shown up this time. Naruto wasn’t much of a chakra sensor, but he knew his teammates’ chakra and he knew Orochimaru’s. Sasuke and Sakura hadn’t used any chakra during his brief scuffle with the Oto team, and while Orochimaru could conceal himself, he wouldn’t have been able to prevent Naruto from noticing his allies’ worry. It was nearing noon, there were barely twelve hours left in the test, and while they did—finally—have the Heaven scroll they needed to pass, he _still_ didn’t know where the _hell_ Orochimaru was.

Screw it; they needed to get inside. He created another clone to tell Gaara that it was time to come inside, and sent out a few more as runners, getting them to gather up all the disguised kage bunshin lying around and search the forest for the other Konoha teams, and either guide them or carry them to the tower at the end of the testing period.

As he arrived back in the clearing, he tossed the Sound team’s Heaven scroll to Sakura and pulled a cleaning cloth from his backpack. Quickly scrubbing the blood off his kukri, he returned it to its sheath, packed up all his things, and was ready to go immediately. Seeing his example, his teammates began packing as well. He could tell they had questions—Sasuke, especially, had hardly twitched his narrowed eyes from Naruto’s back since he had returned—but they were also eager to get inside the tower.

“Let’s rock,” said Naruto, as the other two finally caught up their gear.

“N-Naruto…” Sakura asked, looking at the blood spattered on the ground where he had cleaned his kukri. “Did you…?”

“Did you kill someone, dobe?” Sasuke finished when Sakura trailed off.

Naruto paused as a wave of memories rushed over him. One of Naruto’s clones back where he had fought the Sound team popped, having used up its chakra to burn the corpses. The rest of the clones had stolen all the Sound-nin’s useful gear and were burying it for later retrieval. Another clone popped as it marked the tree near where the tools were buried with the Hiraishin formula. Finally, the clone he had sent to Gaara dispersed itself as well, indicating the Sand’s agreement that it was time to finish.

“Yes,” Naruto answered Sasuke. “They were going to kill us. Did you think they gave me their scroll because I asked nicely?”

Sakura looked pale, but Sasuke seemed almost…approving. Naruto jerked his head toward their destination and said, “Let’s get to the tower now we’ve got a Heaven scroll. I really wasn’t expecting to stay out here this long.” This wasn’t quite true—even if they had obtained the Heaven scroll immediately, he would have still argued for staying to try to eliminate other teams—but it didn’t matter now. A moment later, the doors of the tower closed behind them, and they had passed the second exam.

* * *

Thousands of kilometers to the Northeast in the land of Hot Water, only a short distance outside the gates of the famous hidden-village-turned-tourist-trap Yugakure, there lay a desolate wasteland, dotted with geysers and boiling mud pits. In a small cave concealed by a stand of petrified trees, Utakata of Kirigakure stared out through the billowing vapor as though not really seeing it at all. His fingers tapped restlessly against his bubble pipe, and sweat beaded on his bare chest due to his loose, open kimono.

Suddenly, he jerked his head up, his pipe rising toward his lips, as he heard what sounded like pounding footsteps and and odd, wettish whistling. Before Utakata could make any other move, though, an enormous red shape coalesced out of the fog. With a piercing whistle, the figure dug in his gigantic heels and skidded lurchingly to a stop, a few dozen meters past where Utakata stood.

“Sorry, you were closer than I thought and it’s hard to stop once I get going,” the huge shape said. 

Utakata blinked, and resolved the reddish blob into the shape of a tall, broad man wearing odd crimson armour. There was a pipe coming from his back which was emitting steam at regular intervals. He might have been an automaton if not for the very human eyes blinking out from under his low hat.

“Who are you?” he asked suspiciously. “How did you find me?”

“I do a lot of thinking, and I finally realized that this would be a good place to hide,” the giant rumbled. “So I came here to look for you. If you weren’t here, I might pick up a trail, and if not, I could still enjoy some lovely steam.” He exhaled, and steam seemed to curl up from under his hat. “But when I was near enough, I sensed the…extra presence, Roku-san.”

Six. The man had called him six. He knew, somehow. Utakata peered at the man, narrowing his golden eyes. Under the red straw hat was an Iwagakure hitai-ite. The steam the man was emitting appeared to be chakra-based, similar to Terumi Mei’s steam-based Futton kekkei genkai, but as far as Utakata knew, that bloodline had never left Water country, much less spread as far as Earth long enough ago for this huge man to grow. That left only one other option—and the more likely one, since the man had referred to him by the number of tails on his bijuu.

“Does that make you Go-san, then?” Utakata shot back.

The giant bowed his head in affirmation. “I am Han, and I bear Kokuo of the Five Tails.”

Utakata followed his lead, mind whirling. “I am Utakata, and I bear Saiken of the Six Tails.”

Han drew a few steps closer, his armour creaking. “Then, perhaps, we can work to each other’s benefit,” he said. “I was alone the…last time I was found, and suffered for it.”

Utakata knew the Gobi had been captured before him, in the hazy memories he had been unable to shake off. But if this man was referring to those memories…perhaps they were real?

“The enemy travels in pairs, do they not?” he asked, as confirmation. Han nodded. “Then I agree, we can be of great help to each other.” He extended a hand, which the large man took ponderously, and shook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** Couple of things to note. First off, _damn_ this was a long chapter. Second, if you’re wondering what the hell Hiashi’s deal is…so am I, because that was NOT planned, and it tacked on an extra 2000+ words.  
>  These characters are running away with my story… I swear, I get no respect at all.
> 
> Uhhh…I think this level of violence can still be called “canon-typical” and I don’t think I’ve gone overboard, but if you think I’ve been too graphic let me know so I can add a warning. Feel free to let me know also if you think Naruto is “too strong”, but bear in mind that the enemies he’s fighting are genin, while he is (in discipline and chakra level at least) a kage. How do you think canon!Naruto would have done at this age if he had to fight the Third? Or his father? He would have been slaughtered.
> 
> Lastly, a correspondent pointed out that it is possible that the term “Peggy Sue” is not as universally-understood as I had thought, so I’m willing to use the label “Time Travel”. For those unfamiliar however, a snippet from TVTropes: “ _A Peggy Sue [story] gives a character[s], usually at the end of a story or series, the chance to go back and relive her/his life with the knowledge he gained from living through his story the first time._ ” It has nothing to do with a Mary Sue, which in _Naruto_ usually means a cartoonishly-overpowered OC (or a non-OC simply written OOC). 
> 
> Are the jinchuuriki in this story going to be strong? Yes. But they’re jinchuuriki; they’re already canonically strong. Naruto isn’t going to be going head-to-head with the likes of Akatsuki right now because he’s barely thirteen—but he does have near-free access to Kyuubi’s chakra and eight known allies who are as strong or stronger than him, simply by virtue of being the same as him but mostly older. And having people that you _know_ you can count on and who count on you makes a **huge** difference to someone like Naruto, who is already (from his time in the lost timeline) less empty bravado and more actual confidence than he was the first time around. 
> 
> _Tl;dr_ : Trust me to craft my story, ne?


	4. Trust, Honesty, Honor

The first room within the tower was bare except for a scroll on the wall. Sakura began to read the riddle aloud, but Naruto barely paid attention as he unsealed the Earth and Heaven scrolls and tossed them on the floor. The seals inscribed on them glowed—shoddy work, Naruto thought idly; the lines were weak and the curves unsteady—before a plume of smoke erupted. Sasuke and Sakura both stepped back, on guard, as a silhouette became visible through the hanging vapor. As the smoke cleared, Naruto dragged a hand down his face in exasperation.

Before them stood a rather poorly-made scarecrow, with straw sticking out of its vest and some sort of fluffy white brush on its head under a jauntily-tilted headband that covered one painted eye. The sketched face was a henohenomoheji—Kakashi’s chop, if the brush approximating his characteristically gravity-defying hair wasn’t obvious enough. 

The scarecrow had a note pinned to its chest, which Naruto read to his stunned teammates. “Sorry for not coming to meet you, but there’s a cat in a tree that I need to save. Head through the door in front of you to the third room on the right to get some rest. The first door on the left is a cafeteria; get something to eat and ask for medical attention if you need it. I’m proud of you for getting this far.” It was signed with the henohenomoheji. There was also a chibi Kakashi giving a V-for-Victory sign drawn in the corner. Naruto sighed, passed the note to Sakura, and pushed his way through the door.

“You guys hungry?” he asked, moving to the door on the left.

“Wouldn’t you like to get cleaned up first, Naruto?” Sakura mumbled, and Naruto paused with his hand on the doorknob. He glanced down at his blood-splattered clothes. On the one hand, this might make for a good intimidation factor. On the other… 

“Yeah, you’re right,” he laughed. “I don’t wanna eat with this all over me!” Naruto crossed to the third door on the right as Kakashi had instructed and found another note tacked to the door with their names on it. Inside was what looked like a small hotel suite, with three beds and an attached shower. “I’ll go first then, shall I?” he added, still chortling, as he moved toward the bathroom. Just as he made to pull his shirt over his head, Sasuke suddenly tackled him, pinning the blond against the floor, using his legs to keep Naruto’s hands away from any weapons, and holding a kunai of his own to Naruto’s throat.

“You know, as good-looking as you supposedly are, Sasuke, I don’t swing that way,” Naruto snarked, not remotely threatened. “Didn’t know you did, though. Sakura and Ino will be heartbroken.” On reflection, it was really quite fortunate for Sasuke that he had pulled this stunt while Naruto was fully awake. A drowsy or groggy Naruto probably would have killed him rather than quipped at him.

“Who the hell are you?” Sasuke snarled. “Naruto isn’t skilled enough to kill three people without a scratch or clever enough to understand the riddle back there so quickly.”

Naruto snorted. He should have expected this, though. He hadn’t been acting the way he had at this age since the moment he had come back—he found it difficult to remember exactly how he had behaved, in truth, so he hadn’t bothered. Sasuke had always been observant, quick to draw and stick to conclusions. Even when, as was currently demonstrating, his conclusions were easily demonstrably wrong.

“Brilliant theory,” Naruto said sarcastically. “Well, except for the holes in it. When exactly am I supposed to have switched places with someone else, moron? And with who? And why?” Sasuke hesitated as Naruto kept poking holes in his theory, but then tightened his grip on the kunai against Naruto’s neck as his eyes spun into sharingan.

“Naruto has been acting weird for weeks…” Sakura said, though she still looked nervous.

Naruto sighed. “Look, I really want to take a shower, so why don’t you tell me what I can say that will make you believe me? You want me to make some Kage Bunshin? Or reminisce about tree-climbing in the land of Waves? Or when I beat you up on graduation day?”

Sasuke growled, but the pressure on Naruto’s throat disappeared. Sasuke, plainly, had never told anybody about that short tussle, so only Naruto could know about it. A spy could have known that they learned to climb trees in Wave, but the transformation of their rivalry into a friendly one was an interaction that couldn’t have been faked. Nobody their age could use Kage Bunshin except Naruto, and no Henge would stand up to the sharingan, nor could it replicate the characteristic color or intensity of Naruto’s particular chakra.

The last straw was when Naruto looked him right in the eye and asked, “Why exactly are you upset that I’m finally improving?” 

Sasuke grunted, but got up. “Still a thin hammer…”

Naruto grinned, pushing himself upright, but then froze as a clone popped somewhere and he got a rush of memories. Then another. His smile became a grimace, and he dashed back past his teammates and across into the cafeteria.

“Medic!” he barked in what would eventually be his Kage voice. “Two injured squads incoming!” 

Team Kurenai, eating glumly, and the two chunin chaperones in the cafeteria all jumped to attention, startled. When he saw it was only Naruto, the nearer chunin looked prepared to start shouting back, but hesitated at the sound of tramping footsteps. A moment later, a dozen more Narutos hurried down the hallway, carrying between them the unconscious members of Team Gai and Team Asuma as gingerly as they could. Both chunin sputtered, and Naruto turned on his heel, storming away.

“MEDIC!” Naruto roared down the empty hallway, and the last door visible on the right before the curve of the tower hid the rest of the hallway from view creaked open.

“Medical staff is h—” the woman began to say, but had to jump back as the clones rushed past her. She sounded familiar, but Naruto was paying her no attention.

They laid their comrades gently upon the available beds, and dispersed. Naruto closed his eyes to sort through what they had learned, and began to speak rapidly without opening them, even as he backpedaled into the hallways so that the medics could work. “All six of them display signs of severe chakra exhaustion; Nara Shikamaru appears to have a concussion, Rock Lee’s muscles are torn due to use of at least the first three gates, Hyuuga Neji has had the ligaments behind both knees severed, and both females show contusions to the torso consistent with cracked ribs.”

Pleasingly, none of the medical staff wasted time asking questions, instead leaping straight to work. The vaguely familiar one who had opened the door thanked him, and Naruto finally opened his eyes as the door closed sharply. Slouching back to the room they had been assigned, Naruto hung his coat beside the door and shucked off his shirt and mesh vest, leaving them lying on the floor. He began unfastening his pants as he moved into the bathroom, but hearing Sakura squeak, he kicked the door closed before getting fully undressed and stepping into the shower.

* * *

Emerging ten minutes later with his pants cleaned and firmly back on over a fresh sarashi wrap, Naruto paused in toweling his hair dry when he saw Kakashi in the room.

“Good of you to join us, Sensei,” he said, drily but fondly.

“Actually, Naruto, Hokage-sama was hoping you would join him before lunch,” Kakashi said, snapping his book shut with an eye-smile.

Naruto shrugged. “Sure, lemme get a new shirt.” He caught the mesh armour vest he had dropped earlier on his foot, kicked it up high enough to catch it, and drew it over his head. This done, he pulled a scroll out of his jacket and unsealed another plain black shirt emblazoned with the Uzumaki spiral. Then he placed a hand inside the shoulder of the coat and channeled chakra into the self-cleaning seal there. The blood spray on the coat faded and vanished back into the usual orange color, and Naruto pulled the coat on happily. After a quick smooth-down that doubled as a weapon-check, Naruto tied on his hitai-ite. “Ready, Sensei!” he announced.

“You two get cleaned up and find some food,” Kakashi ordered the other two, who nodded. He took the lead ahead of Naruto down the hallway past the medic’s room, but curiously did not pull his book back out. Naruto took a moment to confirm by chakra signature that this was indeed Kakashi.

As the continued down the hallway around the tower, Naruto mused that it was probably time to tell Jiijii what was going on. The main reason he and Gaara had decided to hold off was so that the course of events wouldn’t change, but given Orochimaru’s failure to appear, it seemed that they had changed anyway. He had informed the Hokage of Orochimaru’s appearance after the second test anyway, so there really wasn’t a better time. He began bracing himself.

“Hokage-sama is waiting,” Kakashi said abruptly, gesturing Naruto to a particular door and indicating that he should enter first.

Naruto shrugged and pushed the door open. “I’m here, Jiijii!” He heard Kakashi shut the door behind him as he froze, taking in the sight in front of him. The Sandaime Hokage sat before him, his wrinkled hands clasped on top of his walking staff. On his right sat a buxom blonde with honey-colored eyes and a perpetual scowl on her ageless face, to his left was a large, square-jawed man with long white hair and smile lines around his eyes—the two loyal Sannin, Tsunade and Jiraiya.

* * *

Tears welled up in Naruto’s eyes instantly, apparently at the sight of all of them, and he blinked them back as fast as he could. Hiruzen felt rather than saw Jiraiya and Tsunade glance at each other, their stern expressions fading into startlement. That was anything but the reaction they had expected. Surprise, sure. Awe, perhaps. A trace of fear, or more than a trace if “Naruto” turned out to be an imposter or enemy. But tears?

Naruto let out a gasping sob, and in the silence they could hear his whispers clearly. “Jiijii…Baa-chan…Ero-Kyoufu…”

Hiruzen’s eyes widened. Naruto was not supposed to know that Jiraiya was his godfather. Much less should he be familiar enough with Tsunade to call her “grandmother”; by rights, he shouldn’t even recognize her real age.

“Naruto?” he asked, quietly, but this only seemed to make the tears come faster. “Naruto!” he repeated sharply, hoping the boy would pay attention and calm down.

His expectations were dashed when Naruto suddenly stiffened, then took a respectful knee. His back remained straight, but his chin dropped humbly, far enough that his hair hid his streaming eyes, he brought his other fist to his heart in salute, overall adopting a posture that would put most ANBU to shame. “Hokage-sama, command me,” he whispered, plainly doing his level best to keep his voice steady.

“Tell me about this, Naruto,” Hiruzen said kindly, but firmly. Naruto was forced to raise his eyes to see what he was holding: a leather cord, from which hung the cracked and broken remains of a crystalline gem.

Naruto gasped, “What is that doing here?” before his eyes darted to Tsunade. On an identical cord around her neck hung a blue-green crystal, whole and intact. “What the—”

“Do you know what this is, brat?” Tsunade asked harshly, her fingers moving to the necklace compulsively.

Naruto stiffened and dropped his eyes to the floor again. When he spoke, it was in a voice so flat that it wouldn’t have been out of place from one of Danzo’s men. “It is a necklace formerly owned by your grandfather the Shodai, Tsunade-sama.”

After a slight pause, she snapped, “Are you going to tell us how you got one so like it?” Naruto flinched, eyes closed, and bit his lip. When he spoke, he seemed to be picking his words with extreme care:

“ _‘When the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and once again, tree leaves shall bud anew.’_ ”

“What the hell is that supposed to—” Tsunade snarled, but Jiraiya cut her off.

“That’s Sensei’s poem, hime,” he said, his eyes boring into Naruto’s…or they would have been if the blond’s were looking at him. “Which to my knowledge, he has never shared with anyone except us.”

Naruto took a shuddering breath. He cocked his head to face Jiraiya’s voice, though his eyes were still shut tight, and said in a brittle voice, “Six Paths leads Red Dawn to seek Ten-Tails.” Jiraiya’s eyes grew so round they looked ready to pop out of his skull.

Naruto’s eyes finally opened, but his gaze was fixed back on the floor at Hiruzen’s feet. He reached down very slowly to draw his kukri, which he laid on the ground before him; a traditional show of fealty. Then, just as slowly, he drew stabbing blade strapped to his thigh. This he turned toward himself, holding it steady before his own heart. “Upon my honor, my life is yours, Hokage-sama,” he whispered. “Upon this oath, know that I am yours to command.”

Hiruzen stared at the boy kneeling before him, offering his loyalty in the most traditional ritual possible. After a long moment, he answered. “Your oath is accepted. Sheathe your blade. Your kage charges you to speak and answer truthfully. Who are you?” he asked.

“I am Uzumaki Naruto, genin of Konoha, identification number zero-one-two-six-zero-seven,” Naruto rattled off. “Konoha’s jinchuuriki and partner of the kyuubi no kitsune.

“What is it you wish to tell me?” Hiruzen pressed.

Naruto took a deep breath, and said, “I am from the future.”

* * *

Whatever they had expected, it wasn’t that. 

Naruto, still reeling from seeing before him all at once the three people whom he had lost, and most wished to see again, still could not bring himself to really look at any of them. Kakashi had been one thing, and he had been psyching himself up to face Jiijii, but not all of them, all at once.

“Seal this room, Jiraiya,” Sarutobi barked. Naruto did not move from his kneeling position as his godfather brushed past him. He did not look up at the sounds of a privacy seal being drawn, nor the flash as it activated.

“Stand up and raise your shirt, boy,” Jiraiya barked. “Show me your seal.” Naruto winced, but did as he was told. “ _What the hell is this?_ ” Jiraiya growled. His large hand fastened around Naruto’s neck and hoisted him up so that his feet were dangling. 

Hiruzen barked, “Jiraiya!”, but the sage paid no mind. He ignored the tears dropping onto his wrist and snarled, “What happened to this seal?”

Naruto made no effort to resist or free himself, and still couldn’t look at his godfather. He raised his right hand slowly and made a handtalk sign, which variously meant _Trust_ , _Honesty_ , or _Honor_.

“Jiraiya, what are you—” Tsunade said.

“Half the elements of Minato’s seal are gone,” Jiraiya spat. “The thing’s so loose, all it’s doing is keeping the Kyuubi in his body; it’s not sequestered from his mind, not protecting him from its influence, not even really filtering its chakra. It’s almost as bad as the one on the Ichibi jinchuuriki.” The tips of the fingers of Jiraiya’s free hands began to glow. Kurama snarled in the back of Naruto’s mind.

_I’ll release it,_ Naruto told the fox quellingly. _You know I will. Believe it._

Jiraiya slammed his glowing hand into Naruto’s stomach and twisted. The seal burned suddenly and tightened, returning it to how it had been when Naruto had actually been twelve. Some tiny part of him had to chuckle at the irony that despite everything else that had gone differently, his seal had still been messed with during the chunin exams. 

Jiraiya dropped Naruto, dusting his hands. “That should hold long enough for us to figure out how the hell…” He trailed off as Naruto’s own fingers began to glow. Naruto twisted the seal the other direction, making the spiral of the seal appear to rotate and the flowing characters around it vanish once more. “You little _fool_!” Jiraiya hissed, seizing Naruto by the throat once more and again ignoring Hiruzen’s protest. “You could have completely released the Kyuubi! Who taught you to do that?”

Naruto shakily raised a hand again, and without looking at him, gently poked Jiraiya’s chest.

“Me?” he sounded bewildered. Naruto nodded as best he could.

“Jiraiya, put him down immediately!” Hiruzen thundered. Jiraiya lowered Naruto to the ground gently this time, and Naruto immediately knelt once more. “None of that, Naruto,” the Hokage snapped, and Naruto finally met his eye. “This sort of humility ill suits you now, I cannot imagine it from you in the future.”

Naruto blinked. “You…believe me?” he rasped.

“That remains contingent upon the rest of our conversation, Naruto-kun,” Hiruzen said gently. Naruto registered the renewed use of a suffix. “When did you learn that poem?”

Naruto swallowed hard. “I…heard it at your funeral, Jiijii.” Tsunade’s and Jiraiya’s hands curled into fists, and Naruto heard Kakashi shift behind him, but Sarutobi merely sighed.

“It is indeed in my recorded wishes to have that recited at the memorial service when I pass,” he said, and both of his students froze. “What is the meaning of the message you gave to Jiraiya?”

“The de facto leader of Akatsuki is a man calling himself Pain,” Naruto began, unconsciously straightening and folding his hands behind his back, the proper posture for debriefing. “He is the leader of Amegakure, having led a civil war and killed Sanshouo no Hanzou some fifteen years ago.” His eyes almost looked at Jiraiya before he continued. “His real identity is Nagato, and I have strong reason to believe that he may be an Uzumaki.” Jiraiya gasped, and even Tsunade looked stunned, but Naruto continued as if he had heard neither. “One of the powers of the rinnegan is to control the bodies of up to six specially-prepared corpses, which then share vision and power. The goal of Akatsuki is to capture the jinchuuriki and extract the bijuu, sealing them one by one into a giant statue. Pain believes that the statue is a weapon, and that by possessing it, Akatsuki can end war by virtue of being an unstoppable threat. In truth, the statue is an empty husk that was once the body of the Juubi, before the first Sage of the Six Paths divided its chakra into the nine bijuu we know today.” Naruto rested a hand on his stomach as he finished speaking.

There was silence for several long minutes. Finally, Hiruzen asked, “How did you come to be here?”

“By the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, I was the only remaining jinchuuriki. Through a series of frankly absurd coincidences, I found myself with all nine bijuu contained within me. The enemy I faced attempted to capture me using a spacetime ninjutsu.” Naruto bit his lip again. “As it was explained to me, that technique was _supposed_ to place its target in a pocket dimension that only the user could access. Instead…” he scratched the back of his head in a characteristic gesture. “I was flung into the past.”

“How far?”

“Five years or so. I’m not sure exactly; the calendar didn’t seem so important toward the end.” Naruto shrugged.

“It was that bad?” Kakashi asked, speaking for the first time.

“It was war,” Naruto replied quietly.

“What proof can you offer?” Tsunade asked.

“Besides knowing things I shouldn’t?” Naruto shot back. He raised his left hand, and with a soft hum, created a rasengan. The spiraling ball of chakra held everyone’s eye for a moment. “I can do better, but not without Sage Mode. I can’t summon toads for you, because I haven’t signed the contract yet, so nothing will happen. Oh, there’s this.” He held out one of his Mie kunai, subtly imprinting it his Hiraishin tag with a squeeze. Still using exaggerated movements, he lobbed it at an empty chair. In a flash of orange light, he vanished and reappeared seated in the chair with the kunai spinning by its ring around his finger.

“That was—” Kakashi staggered over to a chair beside Tsunade and sat down heavily.

“Yeah.” Naruto pocketed the Mie kunai. “Took forever to get it right. You wouldn’t believe how complicated it is to change the color of the flash.” He grinned, and the Hokage threw back his head and laughed.

“So how did you get my necklace?” Tsunade cut in. “I assume that it was mine?”

“You gave it to me,” he confirmed. “After Jiijii… Ero-sennin brought me to look for you, Godaime-sama.” Tsunade sputtered. Naruto allowed himself to smirk a little. “Don’t get used to that formality from me, though, Baa-chan.” 

As Tsunade composed herself, Naruto picked up and sheathed his kukri, laying the marked Mie kunai in front of the Hokage instead. “I’m having more made, but I want you to keep this, Jiijii. I don’t want to tag Enma-san.”

He resumed his debriefing stance. “I said nothing before now so that the potential for changing the course of history would be minimal, and I was hoping to eliminate some of the larger thorns in our side before they could ruin everything again.” He sighed. “But things are already different, and I don’t know why.”

“What do you mean, Naruto?” Hiruzen prodded gently.

“Last time, during the second phase of the chunin exams, in the Forest of Death, our squad was attacked by a giant snake, and a Kusagakure jonin who turned out to be Orochimaru in disguise. He placed a Five Elements seal on my stomach and a Cursed Seal of Heaven on Uchiha Sasuke’s neck. None of these events happened this time.”

“Orochimaru attacked?” Hiruzen asked, alarmed.

Naruto nodded, looking bitter. “It was a precursor to a planned invasion. Orochimaru is the secret leader of Otogakure, and he conspired with the Yondaime Kazekage to attack Konoha during the third phase, using a combination of mass genjutsu, summoning, and a rampaging Ichibi.” Naruto raised a hand at the adults’ looks of alarm. “If nothing else, the latter is a moot point—Gaara, the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, Shukaku of the One Tail, also has his memories of the lost future.” Naruto smiled. “Orochimaru apparently did not trust the Kazekage to hold up his end of the bargain, and as such killed him and replaced him shortly before the third phase. It was in this guise that he attacked you, Jiijii. Gaara later became Suna’s Godaime. He is a powerful ally.”

Then Naruto sighed, and added, “Gaara and I agreed that we should allow that assassination, but we weren’t sure exactly when it happened. Now, I’m not sure if it even will. Orochimaru hoped to destroy Konoha with his invasion, but that was only ever a secondary goal. His ulterior motive revolved around Sasuke and the Cursed Seal, so that he could lure him away from the village with promises of power and eventually take over his body. Since he didn’t mark Sasuke, I have no idea what Orochimaru may be up to.”

“The Cursed Seal of Heaven?” Jiraiya repeated.

“Yeah.” Naruto scowled, still not looking at Jiraiya. “I hate that thing. It’s damn hard to remove.” Jiraiya’s jaw dropped. 

“You can remove Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal?” Sarutobi clarified.

Naruto’s smirk was back. “I can remove any seal,” he said confidently. “I _am_ my parents’ kid.

“You know about your parents, then, Naruto-kun?” Hiruzen said, looking amazed.

“Old Man, look at this jacket. Do you really think I don't know?” Naruto gave a foxy grin. “I am Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato.” He brushed a finger over the whisker marks on his cheeks. “I am the jinchuuriki of Kurama of the Nine Tails, as my mother was before me, and her kinsman Uzumaki Mito before her. She named Senju Tsunade my kyoubo, as my father named Jiraiya my kyoufu; as they both wished for Kakashi to be my big brother.” He stuck out his tongue at the silver-haired jonin. “See how well that turned out.”

Kakashi looked pained at that, but Naruto said softly, “I don’t begrudge you your pain, nii-san.”

After a moment, the Hokage cleared his throat. “Is there anything else we should know, Naruto-kun?”

“There is so much more you need to know…” Naruto sighed. “For the moment, the priority is the chunin exams and the invasion. The way it worked before was, during the third round of the exams, Sasuke injured Gaara, which caused him to go berserk. Someone disguised as an ANBU, likely Orochimaru’s spy, used a wide-area genjutsu to put most of the audience to sleep, and the Sound nin hidden among them attacked. Orochimaru cast off his Kazekage disguise and had his bodyguards use the Four Violet Flames Formation around the rooftop to isolate you for a battle, Jiijii. He sacrificed some Sound genin to bring back the Shodaime and Nidaime with Edo Tensei.” Naruto’s mouth twisted. “I really hate that jutsu,” he added.

“Do you know who was Orochimaru’s spy?” Jiraiya asked.

“Yakushi Kabuto,” Naruto replied without hesitation. “He was originally one of Danzo’s Root, programmed as a deep cover spy within Akatsuki. He was supposed to keep an eye on them while pretending to pass information to Akasuna no Sasori, who is Akatsuki’s spymaster. At some point, he legitimately defected to Orochimaru, though he was always willing to work with the true leader of Akatsuki… That’s not important now, though. What matters is that Kabuto is an enemy, and his squadmates are also Orochimaru’s flunkies. If I remember correctly, one of them absorbs chakra, and the other can stretch his body like he’s got no bones. Kabuto fights with chakra scalpels and uses medical ninjutsu to heal any damage he takes. He’s by far the most dangerous.”

Naruto thought for a moment. “The only other thing that might be of interest is Gaara’s suspicion that, well, if Ichi and Kyuu are back, maybe Ni through Hachi are, too. They would all be guaranteed allies, at least to Gaara and I, and they are all older, so they may be making moves of their own or informing their own kage.” Then he shrugged. “Once the break in the chunin exams officially starts, Gaara and I were going to try to make contact.”

“I see,” the Hokage said after a moment. “Does this conclude your official report, shinobi?”

Naruto brought a fist to his heart to salute, much more relaxed now.

“Then I have another question, Naruto-kun. What rank did you hold in…the future?”

Naruto gave a crooked smile. “Rokudaime Hokage and Grand Commander of the Allied Shinobi forces.”

“I see…” Hiruzen actually chuckled. “Well then, Naruto-kun, while I am not quite ready to hand you the hat just yet, I should think that you are prepared to shoulder some more responsibility than your present rank allows, if you are willing to agree to an assessment.”

“As my Hokage commands,” Naruto said neutrally, though the broad grin on his face told its own story.

“Not to full jonin, I’m afraid,” Hiruzen warned his protégé. “I think TokuJo is the best we will be able to do for some time. I will arrange a private evaluation, though I must ask you to remain in both the chunin exams and your current team, under Kakashi-kun’s direction for some time.”

“As my Hokage commands,” Naruto repeated. “What sort of evaluation?”

“The sort that ensures you are able to defend the rank in question.”

Naruto’s smile widened. “Permission to fight my taichou, Hokage-sama?”

Kakashi seemed to have recovered somewhat. “You sure about that, otouto?” he teased.

“Maa, I’m not sure I could take a Sannin while I’m twelve, unless I use Sage Mode, and I’d feel guilty beating up on a geezer,” Naruto teased back.

Sarutobi cleared his throat again, pointedly. “I think that will be all for today, Naruto-kun. Though, if you would remain just a moment?” He didn’t wait for Naruto’s response. “Tsunade, please accompany me; we need to greet the other chunin candidates and examine the potential tournament bracket.”

“Oh, Baa-chan,” Naruto interrupted. “There were some friends of mine injured during the exam; looks like Kabuto’s work to me.”

“I’ll drop in,” Tsunade promised as she followed Hiruzen out of the room. The door shut behind them and the privacy seal flared as it reactivated. Belatedly, Naruto realized Kakashi had also left, which meant Naruto was now alone with…

* * *

Jiraiya watched his godson’s back as the realization hit him. 

After a long, stiff silence, Jiraiya said bitterly, “I must have hurt you pretty badly in the future for you not to be able to stand the sight of me.”

Naruto whirled on the spot and finally met his gaze, his sparkling blue eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Hurt me? You _left_ me to go deep into hostile territory with no backup, for no gain we couldn’t have guessed at! If I had been there, I could have gotten you back _out_ …” His strangled voice trailed off, too choked with emotion to continue. He turned away again.

Jiraiya said nothing. He got to his feet, pulled his godson around, and crushed the boy to his chest. Naruto sniffled, gasped, and then broke down completely. He sobbed and sobbed, and every one tore at Jiraiya’s heart. Even accounting for a five year reversal of time, impossible as it sounded, Naruto couldn’t have been more than eighteen. Too young. Too young for everything that had happened to him, without being flung back and having to face the people he had lost. If Jiraiya found himself suddenly face to face with Minato… 

Naruto’s sobs were slowly resolving into words. “I k-know…you’re not h-him…but he was you…and…and…”

There was no reply Jiraiya could make to that, so he just rubbed the small of Naruto’s back through the sleeveless haori until the boy finally sniffled himself silent. Then he said, “Seems like there’s not much left for me to teach you, Naruto.”

Pulling away at last and scrubbing at his eyes, Naruto scoffed. “You’ve forgotten more than I ever knew about being a ninja, you old toad.”

“And don’t you forget it, brat,” Jiraiya laughed. “Now clean yourself up, it’s time for Sensei to tell you why we have chunin exams or whatever the lecture’s about these days.”

“That’s what I remember,” Naruto gave a watery chuckle.

When they emerged, they found a red-haired boy with a Suna headband passing by. The Sand jinchuuriki glanced between them, and Naruto gave him a tiny nod. The redhead fell into step beside the blond, and Naruto said, “‘Raiya, this is Gaara.”

_‘Raiya?_ the sage pondered. He supposed he could allow it.

Gaara inclined his head respectfully, but spoke to Naruto. “Orochimaru did not attack,” he said bluntly.

“No,” Naruto agreed. “I’m not sure what to think, because he was obsessed with Sasuke last time.”

“The spy escaped me,” Gaara scowled, and the sound of shifting sand came from within the gourd he carried on his back. Well, that tallied with the stories Jiraiya’s spies had reported, at least.

“He won’t escape,” Naruto assured his friend as they approached the door to the main arena.

* * *

“We should enter separately,” Gaara decided as they approached the door. He broke off a few steps short and paused. 

When Naruto opened the door, Jiraiya clapped him on the shoulder before vanishing in a Shunshin, reappearing just behind the Hokage, opposite Tsunade. The coughing jonin who had been the proctor for the preliminaries last time was calling for quiet as Naruto joined his teammates. Naruto did likewise, landing beside Sakura, who jumped. A moment later, Gaara appeared in a Suna Shunshin beside his siblings, fortunately or unfortunately between Naruto and Kabuto’s team, who were the only other candidates remaining.

The speech was as Naruto remembered, except that no preliminaries were needed. Kabuto, as before, complained of injury from the second task and withdrew, leaving eight contenders to compete and Naruto to reign in his killing intent with difficulty.

“We will reconvene in one month at the public stadium to hold a tournament,” coughed the proctor; Gekkou, Naruto suddenly remembered. Naruto hadn’t known him well, he seemed to remember attending a memorial service for Gekkou shortly after Jiijii’s, but he did remember an ANBU with long purple hair who he thought might have been Gekkou’s betrothed. Even in the future she had never offered a name, and so had remained Cat even when her last mask broke. She had served as his ANBU commander after Yamato-taichou had refused…

With an effort, Naruto pulled himself back to the present in time to look over the tournament bracket being projected before them. In the upper bracket was Kankurou versus Sasuke and Kabuto’s teammate Tsurugi Misumi versus Gaara. In the lower bracket, Naruto himself was facing Kabuto’s other squadmate, Akadou Yoroi, while Sakura was matched against Temari.

With an effort, Naruto managed not to roll his eyes. He glanced at Gaara and cocked an eyebrow. The redhead sighed. It seemed he agreed—the finals would be between the two of them.

“Hn,” Sasuke grunted. “Too bad. I wanted to fight you before the finals, Loser.” He sounded eager, but not bloodthirsty; in that almost-friendly way that Naruto had missed so much after he had gotten the Cursed Seal.

“Tch,” Naruto scoffed. “We can spar during the break, since you won’t last that long in the tournament, Jerk,” he shot back.

Sasuke smirked. Sakura just sighed, then glanced worriedly at Temari. With a slight shimmer, Kakashi appeared behind the boys and dropped a hand on each of their heads in an obnoxious manner. “Now, now, are you sure it would be fair to train together now that the team portion of the tournament is over?”

“Maa, Sensei,” Naruto demurred. “I would never dream of abandoning my comrades like that.”

Kakashi pinched his face. “Cheeky.” The three of them groaned at the pun, but Kakashi just gave them his usual, infuriating eye-smile. “Take a week off, at least, and I’ll see you in the usual place, bright and early. Naruto, Hokage-sama says that we can do the thing the day after tomorrow. Ja ne!” He vanished.

“So by ‘bright and early’, he means lunchtime as usual, right?” Sakura asked dully. Both boys nodded.

“What’s ‘the thing’, Naruto?” Sasuke asked, apparently genuinely curious, since he used his teammate’s real name.

“My secret promotion test,” Naruto replied honestly, knowing that he wouldn’t be believed.

As predicted, Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Dead Last.”

It was too late in the day to leave the Forest of Death before nightfall, so the Hokage instructed all the genin to remain in the tower for the night. Team Kakashi returned to the cafeteria for dinner, where they were hesitantly joined by the Sand Siblings and a smiling Iruka, their last Academy teacher, whom Naruto had not seen yet. Naruto and Iruka chattered away happily, while Gaara occasionally chimed in. Naruto wasn’t sure if it was just him, but Gaara definitely seemed funnier than he remembered, even from the other future. Perhaps there was just more to laugh about. The rest of their respective teams made awkward small talk, none of them entirely comfortable with each other.

When Iruka escorted them out of the Forest the following morning, Naruto was promptly ambushed by Anko, who cried, “Meal Ticket!” before dragging him off by the hair. Naruto wept theatrically as all of his friends unashamedly abandoned him to his fate. Thirty plates of dango later—of which only four were Naruto’s—Anko declared that his debt was paid and that she had to meet Hokage-sama about something.

* * *

The day of Naruto’s evaluation dawned overcast, but there was no smell of approaching rain. He dressed for battle, and dropped by Kotetsu Ryuu to see if Higurashi-san had finished another Mie kunai. There were, in fact, two, but Tenten refused to hand them over until he agreed to a spar.

“All right, all right, fine,” Naruto promised, “But not until you’ve rested a bit. Those cracked ribs looked bad.”

Tenten shrugged. “I should be fine. Tsunade-sama checked on me personally!” She added with stars in her eyes.

While she was distracted, Naruto snatched the Mie kunai from her and fled the shop, calling back, “Well, I’ve got a whole month before the tournament, so we’ll have plenty of time, bye!”

He turned a corner, then ducked down an alleyway. Once he was out of sight, he drew on chakra for his Hiraishin and flashed to the seal in Jiijii’s office…or tried to. As he had half-predicted, he appeared inside the drop ceiling, and had to quickly anchor himself to the support beam with chakra so as not to fall through. He lifted the panel carefully, and peered down into the office, but a hand shot up through the gap, seized him by the collar, and dragged him down into the office proper. Realizing his error, Naruto quickly raised his hands in surrender, even as he was held with his feet off the ground for the second time in two days.

“Release him, Cat,” came the Hokage’s quiet voice, and the ANBU dropped him at once. Naruto glanced up in time to see the swirl of purple hair as the ANBU vanished to her guard position once more. “An excellent demonstration of your stealth and infiltration skills for advancement, Naruto-kun, but perhaps a little ill-advised,” Hiruzen chided.

Naruto scratched his head. “Sorry, Jiijii; I forgot your Guard Platoon always has a talented sensor, and I didn’t realize what a bad idea it was until a moment too late.”

“You are forgiven,” Sarutobi told him as he got to his feet. “Come, we will conduct the examination back in the Forest of Death.”

“Ne, Jiijii, should I send a runner to wake up Taichou?” Naruto offered, not really wanting to sit around for hours waiting for Kakashi.

“I think Kakashi-kun may surprise even you,” Hiruzen chuckled.

Sure enough, when they arrived, Kakashi was waiting for them in the clearing beside the tower with his little orange book nowhere in sight. He eye-smiled at Naruto. “Ready, Naru-bouzu?” he asked, without preamble.

Naruto took a Shioken ready stance at once. The Hokage chuckled. “Very well, Kakashi-kun,” he called. “I will leave the evaluation to you. Please be thorough.”

“Of course, Hokage-sama.” Kakashi’s eye moved to Naruto. “We’ll be testing your various skills by sparring. Ninja art number one: Taijutsu.” Kakashi watched Naruto for a moment, and when the blond showed no sign of striking first, Kakashi charged.

It was not his full speed—not even close, in fact—but still well above the level expected for a genin. Interestingly, Naruto’s response was not Shioken despite his opening posture. His first few blocks and dodges were textbook Academy taijutsu; the sort Naruto had shown no sign of knowing when he had graduated just six months previously. Kakashi pressed his attack, slowly increasing both the complexity and speed of his combinations, but Naruto only smirked and began returning attacks. These, Kakashi was able to stop just as easily, but Naruto could tell he was impressed by his precision.

Abruptly Kakashi switched styles, shoving Naruto back and flowing into a spinning roundhouse kick; Gai’s signature Konoha Senpuu. Naruto didn’t miss a beat, blocking both of Kakashi’s kicks and responding with a vicious uppercut that Kakashi barely dodged. As his teacher raised his fists again, Naruto spun a Konoha Senpuu right back at him. Kakashi whirled to parry the kick in a technique he had plainly devised by sparring Gai, but Naruto only grinned. The usual second kick was a feint, and Naruto instead used the centrifugal momentum to shove Kakashi back with a makeshift Jyuuken Kaiten. Naruto continued in Jyuuken form for another few minutes, though he had always been unable to focus his chakra finely enough to strike correctly. A moment later, Kakashi had shifted again to lightning-fast ANBU-standard Taijutsu, but still Naruto’s corresponding defense and retaliation were flawless. 

Several minutes and several more martial arts later, Kakashi began to spar in earnest, using the mixed taijutsu style he favored in actual combat. Sensing that the scarecrow was now serious, Naruto responded with his own personal style, which was heavily based on Uzu-ryuu Shioken. He leaned around a straight punch, stepped back to avoid an upward kick, then darted in as his sensei threw a hook. With all the speed and fury of the tides, Naruto buried a fist in Kakashi’s gut, then stepped back and circled, waiting for another opening. 

Kakashi chuckled wheezily. “Never did get the hang of fighting against that style,” he confessed. He drew an ANBU-issue tanto from the sheath on his back. “Ninja art number two: Bukijutsu.”

Naruto barely had time to draw his kukri and deflect the strike before Kakashi was on top of him. Locking the older man’s blade in the notch at the bottom of his own, Naruto kicked at Kakashi’s knees and dodged desperately backwards. His weapon had more heft, but Kakashi was a far better swordsman. Staggering away, Naruto managed to draw a Mie kunai in his off hand to even the odds. Kakashi also drew a kunai, albeit a standard-issue one. Despite Naruto’s clearly better-made weapons, it was completely obvious that Kakashi had him utterly on the ropes. 

Apparently deciding that he had humiliated Naruto thoroughly enough, Kakashi suddenly skipped backward and sheathed his sword. Naruto hurriedly did the same with his kukri and dropped the Mie kunai point-down where he stood as Kakashi withdrew a double handful of shuriken. Naruto flung his own shuriken to deflect his teacher’s, but realized too late that Kakashi’s throwing stars were attached to ninja wire. Naruto backflipped hastily over the wires and kicked off a tree behind him, headed straight toward Kakashi, but it seemed that this too had been predicted, as Naruto found several kunai headed toward him. Twisting in midair, Naruto drew his own throwing knife, deflected two of Kakashi’s and dodged the third before flinging the small black blade at the scarecrow, where it sank into Kakashi’s chest.

_What?_

Kurama pulsed Naruto’s chakra without waiting to be asked. The genjutsu dissolved at once, and Naruto found the wire-bound shuriken still flying at him. He rolled to the side instead and came back to his feet to find Kakashi completing another series of seals. The world seemed to shiver, but Kurama once again shattered the illusion before it could really take hold. Naruto shook his head and said, “Don’t tell me; ‘Ninja art number three: Genjutsu’, right?”

Kakashi’s visible eyebrow furrowed, but his voice was as calm as ever. “Let’s skip to Ninja art number four: Ninjutsu.” He flipped through a few signs, ending on tiger. “Katon: Goukakyuu.”

Naruto responded instantly, “Suiton: Teppoudama!” He spat a ball of water to douse Kakashi’s fireball, then rolled to the side again as a bolt of lightning tore through the resultant steam. Naruto quickly crossed the first two fingers of both hands in a distinctive seal, silently conjuring a kage bunshin that contained a fraction of his chakra. Both of them began signing when Kakashi did not appear through the steam. The clone cried, “Katon: Housenka!” and dispelled, having poured all of its limited chakra into a small spray of fireballs. An instant later, Naruto took a deep breath and grunted, “Fuuton: Daitoppa!” before exhaling a veritable gale, which fanned the fireballs hot enough to glow blue as they tore through the vapor hanging in the air.

The air cleared, but Kakashi was nowhere to be found. Knowing what was coming and having no wish to deal with it, Naruto quietly replaced himself with another shadow clone and retreated into the trees, unseen. Sure enough, from his spot on the branch, he watched as Kakashi’s hands erupted from the ground and gripped the clone’s ankles, dragging it down until it was buried to the neck. Naruto grimaced. _Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu_. He really despised that technique; it was too much a favorite of the enemy in the future. Deidara, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Kabuto, Orochimaru, Tobi, Madara; appearing suddenly in front of you or seizing your legs with vicelike fingers, teeth, fangs, snakes; tearing at muscles and ligaments or dragging you down, down into the dark…

Naruto swallowed hard to prevent himself vomiting as Kakashi popped up again, bending down to pinch the clone’s cheek. The clone glowed, then exploded, blasting Kakashi off his feet and leaving a sizeable crater. Kakashi impacted a tree across the clearing, and Naruto was on him in a Shunshin-assisted flash, his Kukri back out and pressed to his sensei’s throat, glowing green and humming slightly with the wind chakra flowing down it.

“Word of advice, Taichou,” Naruto whispered, quietly enough that only Kakashi could hear him. He let his fear and disgust bleed into his shaky voice even though his hand was steady. “Don’t ever use that jutsu on one of us from the future. We have a lot of very bad memories associated with it. Best case scenario, you’ll be spending time in the hospital, and I know you hate that as much as I do.” He ended as lightly as he could, sheathing his kukri and retrieving the Mie kunai he had dropped as an emergency Hiraishin point earlier. 

Naruto spun the latter around his finger, then extended it to Kakashi; a peace offering. “I know you have one of the Yondaime’s; I’d be honored for you to keep one of mine, too.” 

Kakashi nodded gravely and took it. “Thank you, Naruto.”

Naruto glanced around as the Hokage reappeared, flanked by both Sannin and a handful of ANBU: Cat, Lizard, Bear, Panther, and Ocelot.

“So, how’d I do, Hokage-jiijii?” Naruto called, grinning.

“Adequately, Tokubetsu Jonin Uzumaki,” the Hokage smirked back. “Follow me back to my office and we’ll draw up your commission. Though, I hope you do realize that you will probably have to keep a copy of it on hand so that people believe you, if you should ever need to declare your new rank.”

A moment later, the clearing stood empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** This chapter ended up being way more talky than I wanted, so I decided to finish up with a fight scene, even if it was kind of a boring one. 
> 
> _Sarashi_ is the correct name for the “bandages” that Ino wears around her stomach, or which Sanosuke wears in _Rurouni Kenshin_. (Naruto is wearing them in the same style as the latter, albeit under a shirt).
> 
> Obviously the necklace didn’t break in the other-future the way it did in canon, before anyone pounces in the reviews.
> 
> _-bouzu_ is an informal, affectionate, masculine diminutive honorific; socially the equivalent of addressing a young nephew or cousin as “squirt”. Combined with the shortening of Naruto’s name, Kakashi is being cheerfully familiar with Naruto, the way he might have been if they really had grown up as brothers, considering their relative ages, without outright referring to Naruto as a “little brother”.
> 
> In case it isn’t clear, the word “Ryuu” can mean “school” or “style” (as in a school of martial arts), as well as meaning “dragon”, as I mentioned in a previous chapter. The characters are quite different, but pronounced the same way.
> 
> I’ve also thrown up a poll on my profile on FFN—would you guys like a forum to talk with/about me and my stories? I can’t really imagine anyone does, but apparently that’s a capability FFN has (I’m new to this whole fanfic thing, remember).


	5. Intermission Mission

“So what was with the formality back in the tower?”

Naruto, standing at the stove in his apartment, glanced around. Jiraiya was sitting at the kitchen table, poring over Naruto’s notes on the Hiraishin, but it was Kakashi—leaning against the wall by the door—who had spoken. Naruto simply raised an eyebrow in question before turning back to his cooking.

“I have a hard time believing that the level of formality you showed Hokage-sama is in any way ‘in-character’ for you, even in the future,” Kakashi clarified. 

Naruto snorted. “S’not. Probably hurt my case, at first, but I wasn’t expecting to face more than just Jiijii–” he mock-glared at Jiraiya, which the older man promptly ignored. “–and I had to say _something_ to make sure you all would hear me out without attacking. Even having Kurama doesn’t make me immortal.”

“No, but our enemies are certainly obsessed with the concept of living forever,” Jiraiya put in, speaking up for the first time since Naruto had tossed the Hiraishin scroll at him.

“We still don’t know whether that Masked Man is really Madara,” Kakashi shot back. “The ability to manipulate Kyuubi may be evidence, but it’s not _proof_. Uchiha Madara would have to have been pushing eighty even then, and I have a hard time believing that someone that old could fight Minato-sensei to a standstill.”

“For what it’s worth,” Naruto said, dishing rice onto three plates. “I _don’t_ think that Tobi is Madara. If nothing else, Madara shouldn’t have had to _steal_ a sharingan. The story goes that he already had the Eternal Mangekyou from his brother Izuna.”

Hearing silence, Naruto glanced up. Both his teachers were staring at him. Naruto scratched his head awkwardly, then turned away to get the soup. “Was that not common knowledge?” he asked, uncertainly.

“No,” Jiraiya answered sardonically.

“I have trouble keeping track!” Naruto exclaimed, a bit defensively. “I don’t know what’s well-known and what’s not in this time. I learned a lot from Itachi when he came back.”

“Came back?” Kakashi asked in a dangerous voice. “The traitor _came back_?”

“Edo Tensei,” Naruto clarified, and Kakashi subsided for a moment. “But that points out another thing that obviously isn’t widely known. The Massacre was a setup.”

“What?” Kakashi gasped. 

Naruto looked at him apprehensively. “Itachi was ordered to kill the leaders of the Uchiha’s planned coup, but Tobi interfered and slaughtered the rest,” he explained shortly. “Itachi’s loyalty is to Konoha, always.” He hesitated. “And to his brother,” he added reluctantly. “Not that it did him any good when Sasuke took his eyes and his place in Akatsuki. I don’t know what Tobi told Sasuke about the night of the Massacre, but it sure as hell wasn’t the truth.”

“I can’t imagine the Professor ordering the deaths of the Uchiha,” Kakashi breathed.

“Not the Professor,” Jiraiya sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “But Shinobi no Kami? The Old Man is still a ninja before anything else.”

Kakashi just nodded slowly.

“Anything more?” Jiraiya asked Naruto.

Naruto shook his head slowly, not in denial, but because there was just so much. “I don’t know, Ero-sennin. I just don’t know.”

The three of them spent the rest of the night discussing the things Naruto knew about the past that had been hidden, and the shape of things to come in the future. One thing was certain, whatever happened this time, things would _not_ turn out the same.

* * *

It had been five days since the second exam had ended, and Naruto and Gaara had decided to leave the following morning to check on the other jinchuuriki, if they could. They would be travelling at speed, and Naruto had spent two days convincing first the Hokage, then Jiraiya, and finally Kakashi that the two of them did not need an escort. It would be too suspicious anyway—even for the handful of ANBU that the Hokage had cleared to witness Naruto’s promotion test—to be led by two thirteen-year-olds deep into foreign territory—they would go to Lightning country, then Water, then Earth if there was time.

In the end, the Professor had furnished Naruto with a letter of credence, essentially naming him as a diplomat of Konoha, and simply begged him not to get into more trouble than he could get back out of.

“The Raikage is not a man to be trifled with, Naruto,” he warned, as he handed over the letter. “And we still know nothing of the situation in Kirigakure.”

Naruto returned a confident smirk. “I’m not a pushover either, Jiijii. And neither is Gaara. Remember to throw that Mie kunai if you need me.” He had furnished Tsunade and Jiraiya with Mie kunai as well, leaving him with just two, plus the one Gaara held, but he felt better knowing they could summon him if need be.

Meeting Gaara momentarily only to leave him an injunction to rest well so that he could keep up tomorrow, Naruto found himself momentarily with nothing to do. He drifted through the Market district, eyes focused on the cloudy sky overhead like Shikamaru, who he passed doing the same thing. Suddenly, he stopped, having sensed a presence blocking his path. He glanced forward.

It was Tenten. Holding a naginata, with a kusarigama on one hip and a wakizashi on the other. And she was smirking.

“Nowhere to hide away, now,” she grinned suddenly. “You’re mine. Let’s go.”

She dragged him all the way to Team Gai’s usual training ground, apparently unwilling to let him go for fear he would slip away again. Naruto heaved a sigh, but found himself grinning too. A spar would help pass the time, and he definitely needed more practice both attacking and defending with weapons. Kakashi had obliterated him in their bukijutsu spar, no matter how much it _looked_ like he had been holding up.

To Naruto’s surprise, Gai and Lee were both present when they arrived. Lee, fortunately, was not half-crippled from fighting Gaara, but Gai was still forcing him to take it easy. _Easy_ , being as ever a relative term when it came to the pair of them, meant that Lee was approaching his nine-hundredth thumbstand pushup, but Naruto supposed it was the thought that counted. Gai instantly shot down Lee’s challenge to Naruto, but the pair agreed to watch him spar with Tenten.

“I hope you’re as good as you think you are,” the bun-haired kunoichi whispered as they squared off. “You’ve ratcheted the anticipation pretty high. Don’t let me down.”

Naruto gave his best foxy grin. “I never let pretty girls down.”

Tenten blinked, then sputtered as she processed what he had said. Naruto lunged instantly, using the moment of distraction to his best advantage. Tenten recovered in time, though, and spun the naginata so that Naruto had to abort his attack to avoid the heavy weight on the end opposite the blade.

“Should have known it was a distraction,” Tenten snorted, still a little pink in the cheeks.

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Naruto shot back, drawing his kukri.

This time he let Tenten come to him, dancing around the first few thrusts of her polearm and batting the blade away with the side of his kukri when it came too close. She spun it into a kata that aimed for his head with the weighted end, and then his legs if he were to dodge that. Unfortunately for her, it was roughly the same attack pattern as the Konoha Senpuu, and Naruto had no intention of being hit. He ducked under the first swing, then channeled wind chakra down the kukri to increase the effective length and sharpness of the blade. He loved his element so much—wind was seriously the best, in his opinion.

His preternaturally sharp blade of wind sheared through the naginata’s haft just below the blade, which went spinning past him until Gai batted it calmly out of the air. It stuck, quivering, in the ground at the edge of the battlefield, six inches of wood all that remained of the handle.

Tenten hardly missed a beat, whirling the remaining length of staff so that the weighted rear now faced him, instantly changing her stance to compensate for the altered balance of her weapon, which was now essentially a five-plus-foot-long mace.

Even if he cut off the weight, he realized, she would just keep using the remaining length as a jo staff, which would be arguably even more dangerous. He stopped flowing his chakra as they closed once more. Naruto pressed the attack this time, sending splinters of wood flying from the wooden haft. When it snapped near the middle, Tenten adapted again, treating the two unequal pieces like a pair of poorly-balanced tonfa.

Driving him back momentarily, she flung the piece without the weight at him, dashed to the edge of the field, and wrenched the blade out of the ground. This she held in a reverse-grip in her off-hand, continuing to attack him primarily with the improvised mace.

* * *

“Those two,” Roshi said decisively, his finger stabbing at two of the eight pictures spread across Onoki’s desk—one of a young red-haired boy with rings around his eyes, the other blond and whisker-marked.

Onoki compared the photographs to the sketches Roshi had provided the week before. “You do realize these are pictures of the finalists in Konoha’s chunin exams, right?” he asked dubiously. “Why on earth would you expect _them_ to come here?” He glared at the latter picture. “This one looks like Namikaze,” he mumbled under his breath.

“His son,” Roshi agreed. “Or so I suspect.”

Onoki harrumphed. “Something else a little bird, told you, Roshi?”

Roshi just grinned. “More like a little _monkey_ …only he’s not so little.”

* * *

Several hours later, Tenten was laying, exhausted, in the middle of the training field, dozens of weapons littering the ground around her. Naruto was breathing heavily. Tenten had really put him through his paces—she was easily chunin, likely nearing TokuJo level when it came to weapons. And _Kami_ did she ever have a lot of them. She had even thrown two freshly-made Mie kunai during one of her barrages, which Naruto had plucked from the air and pocketed. Naruto waved idly to acknowledge Lee’s excited shouting, but when he met Gai’s eye, it was to find a rare solemn expression on the eccentric jonin’s face.

All he said was, “You are clearly in the springtime of your youth, Naruto-kun.”—odd in itself because he did not shout—before he set about retrieving his student’s many weapons. 

Then he glanced back at Naruto with a grin, and continued at his usual volume. “Do not worry, Lee-kun and I will see to Tenten-kun and this training ground, and ensure that this fans her flames of youth ever-higher! You have found yourself a rival, Naruto-kun! Do not doubt it!” he finished with a sparkling smile and thumbs-up. 

Naruto returned the grin, but found he was biting back a wistful feeling as well. Gai had never been the same after Kakashi had died, in the other future. Konoha’s Sublime Green Beast of Prey had still been a terror on the battlefield, and Naruto did not doubt that he would have continued to be so if the war had gone on. He would have wagered that if Gai went all-out and opened all eight gates, he could even have defeated Tobi, albeit at the cost of his own life. Perhaps he would have preferred that, since without his Eternal Rival, his heart simply wasn’t in it anymore.

A frown creased his face as he leapt away. _If_ the war had continued, that was the rub. Tsunade had posited that this was not so much the past as it was a separate line of history entirely. In other words, the future he had left, had simply continued without him, and the changes he was making now were no doubt changing the future, but not _his_ future. Thus, his memories wouldn’t change to incorporate the new past, because in _that_ timeline, the past _hadn’t_ changed.

Naruto shook his head to clear it. It was all way too complicated and served nothing except to give him a splitting headache, and anyway, it was as easy as this: He was here, so he would do everything he could. This was the only place or time or whatever that he could make any difference, so there was no sense in wasting time worrying about anywhere or any _when_ else.

* * *

Yagura kept his gaze on the new Mizukage from his post, hidden in the rafters. Her confirmation as Kiri’s Godaime had come easily, and the majority of citizens were simply happy that the civil war was winding down. The apartheid of clans wielding kekkei genkai would take longer to heal, but despite the mistrust aimed at them, many such clans were returning to their abandoned homes within Kirigakure thanks to Mei herself. 

As Yagura had hoped, the installation of a Mizukage with two separate kekkei genkai to her name was a major statement. The fact that her arrival coincided with the return of not just Hiramekarei in the hands of her bodyguard, but Kubikiribocho as well due to Yagura’s final order, also won her much respect in the eyes of nobles and commoners alike. It had also been surprisingly easy to convince her to trust him, at least to the point that he would be allowed to join the ranks of her ANBU.

Compounding this was that her return was coupled with the apparent death of Yagura himself. A water clone and some strategic genjutsu allowed for the presentation of the corpse of Yagura of the Bloody Mist, thus ending the reign of terror and the civil war for good. That the exhibition of this body coincided with the appearance of an ANBU in a Turtle mask would be written off as irrelevant, even if anyone noticed that the ANBU in question was new. Even ANBU didn’t always know the true identities of all their members. New ANBU Turtle being immediately assigned as the Mizukage’s personal guard might have raised a few eyebrows, but he had visibly entered the city with her, so clearly he was trusted and known to her.

“I can feel your eyes, Kame-san,” Mei said suddenly. 

Yagura refused to insult her by pretending he had not been staring. “You are beautiful, Mizukage-sama,” he said, by way of explanation.

She laughed—she had a wonderful, musical laugh. “And _you_ have a silver tongue,” she returned with a smile. “You’re very cute, yourself.”

Yagura scowled behind his mask. “I am not a child, Mizukage-sama,” he complained calmly, biting back an aggravated curse. He knew he had a bit of a baby face, but he was the former Yondaime Mizukage! He was quite distinguished, and an adult!

Mei smiled indulgently. “We are alone, Kame-san. Come down and sit with me.” She gestured gracefully at the chair opposite, before removing the Mizukage’s hat from her head, indicating he, too, should remove his headgear. Her eyes were glittering, and Yagura felt uncomfortably like a small animal before a predator…and yet, it was thrilling.

“Not a child at all, Yagura,” she purred, leaning toward him. “A _man_ , isn’t that right?”

* * *

Kakashi had taken Sasuke out of the village to train, delegating to Tsunade the task of preparing Sakura for the finals. After a few threats of castration from his old teammate, Jiraiya had elected to accompany the scarecrow instead. Naruto could tell by the proximity of a cluster of three Hiraishin markers some distance outside Konoha, as well as the pair constantly together within the village itself. Thus, when he met Gaara by the front gate, the only remaining challenge was to talk his way past Izumo and Kotetsu on guard duty.

He tipped them an enormous, theatrical wink, and stage-whispered, “Don’t worry guys, gonna go _deal with the competition_ ,” trusting them to read some ridiculous meaning into it. While the two were busy staring incredulously at each other, Naruto and Gaara strolled right past them and outside.

They took off to the Northeast the moment they passed out of sight of Konoha, Naruto on foot, Gaara on his future-trademark hovering Sabaku Fuyuu platform. They both gradually poured more and more chakra into their motions until they were scarcely visible, moving at the sort of speed only someone with the chakra of a jinchuuriki could hope to keep up for long. In truth, Naruto could run rather faster, but he was letting Gaara set the pace so as not to leave his stoic companion behind. The amount of chakra the pair of them were putting out meant that any half-decent sensor would be able to track them from miles away, but they were moving too fast to care, expecting to hit the border of Fire and Hot Water country by sunset. They would have to slow down somewhat once they neared Kumogakure, but for the moment there was nothing to stop them. Naruto grinned. It was good to just _run_.

* * *

Han and Utakata both paused, glancing as one back in the direction they had come. A tremendous amount of distinctive chakra was boiling away a good distance behind them. They had left Hot Water several days before, having decided between them to sweep through some of the minor countries that had fallen under Akatsuki’s grip before. The two of them, bearing Kiri and Iwa hitai-ite respectively, would make an impression as a joint force, and hopefully dissuade some of the smaller countries’ daimyo from willingly placing themselves under the thumb of Pain and Tobi.

“Kyuubi,” Han said, with certainty.

“And Ichibi, I think,” Utakata corrected, sweeping his hair back from his narrow golden eyes. “Are they in battle? That’s a lot of chakra they’re putting out.”

“No.” Utakata could have sworn that his masked companion was smiling indulgently. “They are running.”

Utakata snorted. “Guess you’d know,” he agreed. “They shouldn’t need our help. We’re nearing the Land of Bears anyway.”

Han nodded agreeably, and they set out again.

* * *

By noon of their third day of travel, Naruto and Gaara stood at the edge of the Valley of Clouds and Lightning outside Kumogakure, where Killer B usually trained. If B wasn’t there, he would hopefully return in time for them to avoid having to enter Kumo proper. Their last few hours’ approach had been merely at jonin speed, so they had not been unnecessarily projecting chakra, but Naruto knew that Kumo had talented sensors, recalling a short blond he thought was named C. Granted, the man hated Konoha, but that wasn’t really Naruto’s problem.

Naruto was about to slide down the slanting valley wall, but Gaara caught his shoulder. Wordlessly, the Suna jinchuuriki extended a hand, palm down, and sand flowed from his gourd to extend the Sabaku Fuyuu until it was more than large enough for them both to stand on. Scratching the back of his neck, Naruto stepped onto the floating sand, allowing Gaara to lower them into the Valley.

“I hope we find Octo-pops soon,” Naruto said to Gaara as they reached the bottom of the valley and slowed to a stop, their first bit of conversation since they had started moving before dawn.

“Look no further, Mister Nine; your quest is over, you did just fine,” said a familiar voice. 

Naruto jumped, and spun around to find Killer B and Nii Yugito both standing on the sand behind them. He shot Gaara a glare for not warning him, but the other’s only response was that microscopic, infuriating smirk. 

“ _So_ rude, ignoring us like that,” Yugito added in a teasing purr, draping herself over Gaara’s shoulders, not that it affected his expression any. It did make Naruto blink, though; he remembered her being much more reserved.

“I do not believe any of us had met by this point,” Gaara said evenly, as if he was completely oblivious to the woman pressing herself to his back. “I gather, then, that our theory was correct and you have joined us in the past?”

Frowning slightly at failing to elicit a reaction, Yugito straightened up. “That’s right,” she said, looking a little more serious, and more like Naruto remembered.

“Ain’t no need to make a fuss,” B chortled, offering Naruto a fistbump. “Let’s head to my cave; we got lots to discuss.”

* * *

“So you haven’t told anyone?” Naruto confirmed some time later. They were all seated in B’s training cave. Their host had disappeared momentarily to intercept his students, not wanting to explain having guests from two villages who were nominally enemies. Fortunately, none of them were sensors.

“No, B-sama advised against telling Raikage-sama out of concern that Kumo might leap into a war,” Yugito replied. “Little though I like to admit it, I think he may be right.”

“Big bro’s got a strong heart and hand,” B added as he returned. “It’s his mind I don’t think would understand. He might not agree with what we’ve got planned, but we gots to think bigger than any one land.” They all nodded their agreement.

“Have any of the others made contact?” Gaara asked next.

“No, though I did overhear a report to Raikage-sama that two large chakra signatures met near Yugakure before moving West again,” said Yugito. “That could potentially have been some of us.”

“When was this?”

“Maybe two days ago,” she said. “The two faded for a while, then seemed to reappear from a more southerly direction, before fading again.”

Naruto smirked. “The second pair was probably me and Gaara, before we slowed down. I didn’t know Kumo’s sensor range reached as far as Yu; that’s seriously impressive.”

“Still, the first set could easily have been some of the others,” said Gaara. “Four through Seven are all unaccounted for so far, assuming that Three has remained in Water Country.”

“Well, we’re headed there next,” Naruto reminded him. “So we’ll know soon.”

They filled Yugito and B in on what had happened so far during the Chunin Exams, and what they expected. “Gaara and I are both facing Orochimaru’s flunkies in the first round. If the match is called before we kill them, we’ll have to arrange for an _accident_ of some kind,” said Naruto. “I don’t like it, but I remember what those guys did in the other future and I’m not dealing with it again. After that, it’ll most likely be the two of us in the finals, so we’ll be ready if some part of the Invasion plan still happens.”

“I believe I can be relatively assured of a promotion coming out of the tournament, whatever the result,” Gaara observed. “Even if the Yondaime Kazekage should survive, I will still begin raising my stock as I did before. Conveniently, Naruto has received a commission from the Sandaime Hokage, who is aware of our situation, as are the loyal Sannin.”

“Orochimaru changing his plans…bugs me,” Naruto admitted, following his own train of thought. “Marking Sasuke and destroying Konoha were at the top of his priorities before. There hasn’t been enough time for us to change the world enough to change his mind.”

“I don’t like to take this track, but do ya think he could be _back_?” B put in. “That’s how it looks at first glance, and we gotta think of every chance.”

“Mmm…” Naruto hummed. “I don’t think so, Octo-pops. He might have called off the invasion if that was the case, but he also probably would have just killed Sasuke. And us, for that matter.”

“That may be so…” Yugito mused. “And I suppose you know Orochimaru better than any of us, but I don’t know if we can discount the possibility that, at the very least, he knows more than we think he does. Overestimating your enemy slightly is simply good tactics.”

“Have you conferred with your bijuu on this matter?” Gaara inquired. “Shukaku is of the opinion we should strike hard now, to wipe out as many foes as we can before the situation gets out of control again.”

“Kurama thinks it’s better to bide our time to bait out the bigger fish, but then, we both have a lot to settle with that creep in the mask,” said Naruto, cracking his knuckles.

There was silence for a moment, presumably as both B and Yugito listened to their tenants. “Matatabi advises discretion,” Yugito said after a moment. “Better to stalk your prey and learn where they lurk.”

“Well, we know where they lurk,” Naruto countered fairly. “We’d have to bring a decent-sized force with us to be able to do anything about it, though, and we might just end up starting the War early.”

All of them fell silent at that.

“Gyuuki says to line them all up before we knock them down,” B put in. “I just want a chance to _knock_ this Tobi clown.”

“That’s another question,” Gaara said. “Just who is this ‘Tobi’? I must agree with Naruto; I do not think he can be the genuine Uchiha Madara. He would have to be almost a hundred years old.”

“Old nin are dangerous, no doubt,” B agreed, “but one _that_ old would fizzle out.”

Glancing at the sky, Naruto got to his feet. “Well, we’d better get back. It’s already been over a week of our break, and we’ve still got to visit at least Water country.”

“Take care of yourselves,” Yugito implored. “We’ll keep our eyes peeled throughout Kumo’s turf as we take more missions. I’m even thinking of taking on a genin team so that I can stay closer to home in case I’m needed.”

“Oh, before we go—Gaara, give B the kunai in your sand,” Naruto said. He laid a hand on Gaara’s sand gourd and imprinted his Hiraishin tag under the strap that held it to the redhead’s back. A moment later, the cork lifted from the gourd, and a tendril of sand held out the Mie kunai to B even as Naruto presented another to Yugito. “Both of you hang on to these, and throw them if you need backup. I’ll know.”

“If not for you, we’d all be gone; we’ll call you when the heat is on,” B promised. “It’s always dark before the dawn, but we’ll all keep on keepin’ on.”

Gaara looked at Naruto. “Is it me, or are his rhymes marginally less atrocious this time around?”

Naruto burst out laughing. He fistbumped B, and then Yugito, who surprisingly offered her fist immediately afterward. Perhaps it was a Kumo thing, and not just one of B’s quirks. Gaara gave a solemn nod, and Naruto grasped his shoulder. With a great flare of chakra, the pair vanished in a flash of bright orange.

* * *

“Why did we come back here?” Gaara asked, as they reappeared in Naruto’s apartment in another orange flash.

“So that I can drop by the blacksmith and see if he’s finished any more Mie kunai,” said Naruto. “I want all of our allies to have them, and I’m down to one. I’ve tagged your gourd instead, until I can get you a new one. If you have to dissolve the whole thing, let me know so I can re-mark it.” Gaara nodded, following him out of the apartment.

“Might as well get some ramen while we’re here!” said Naruto. “It’s almost dinnertime!”

“Should we not visit the blacksmith first?” Gaara asked tonelessly. “He is likely to close for dinner.”

“Good point,” Naruto conceded.

They collected two more Mie kunai from Higurashi-san, who fixed Naruto with a gimlet eye the entire time he was in the shop.

“Uh… How’s Tenten?” Naruto asked.

Higurashi-san sighed. “Still sore from your fight, and positively demanding a rematch,” he grunted. “Wasn’t happy that you skipped town. Won’t be happy when she hears you came in on her day off.”

“Well, I’m leaving again after dinner, so maybe you won’t get in too much trouble?” he said uncertainly.

The blacksmith just shook his head, waving one broad hand in farewell. After a quick meal at Ichiraku’s, the pair headed for the gates. Kotetsu and Izumo were on guard duty _again_ , and spoke up the moment Naruto and Gaara approached.

“Naruto, what are you up to?” Kotetsu asked. “You’re a genin, you can’t just leave the village without an escort!”

“What did you mean ‘deal with the competition’?” Izumo added. “And why are you hanging out with one of your opponents anyhow?”

Naruto made soothing gestures. “Don’t worry, guys, it’s all according to plan,” he said mysteriously, and without breaking stride. “You know what they say, _second time’s the charm_.” For the second time, the pair simply strode past the perplexed guards, and were gone before they could be stopped.

“Do you mind a quick detour?” Naruto asked Gaara. “I want to check on Kakashi-taichou and Ero-sennin, and see how Sasuke’s doing. They’re South of here and a little East, so it’s not very far out of our way.”

Gaara shrugged his indifference, so Naruto took his shoulder again and they vanished in an orange flicker, reappearing beside the white-haired Sannin. Gaara’s sand whirled to catch the punch Jiraiya threw at them, and the old man shook out his fist.

“Going to have to get used to people popping in like that again,” he muttered ruefully. “You wouldn’t believe how many times I cleaned Minato’s clock for surprising me.”

“How’s Sasuke?” Naruto asked.

“Training,” Jiraiya answered vaguely. “I’m not sure what Kakashi’s doing, but they’ll both vanish for a couple days, then he’ll come back, leaving Sasuke to wander in half a day later, looking exhausted..”

“ANBU stress-testing,” said Naruto with confidence. “Last time, Kakashi gave him a really light version of it, and taught him Chidori at the end. He’s probably being harder on him this time around, to see if he still deserves it.”

Jiraiya turned to stare incredulously. “He taught him Chidori this young?”

Naruto shrugged. “Along with an injunction to use it only to protect. I think he was hoping that the power offered would persuade Sasuke to fight the Cursed Seal and stay in Konoha, but it just helped him escape.” Naruto gestured uncomfortably at his shoulder. “He stabbed me before he got away; in exchange, I put the scratch on his hitai-ite.”

“Not really a fair trade,” Gaara commented.

“I know,” Naruto sighed. “But I didn’t want to kill him. I never did, despite how hard he tried to kill me.”

“I’ll ask Kakashi if he still intends to teach him Chidori the next time he comes back,” Jiraiya decided. “It’s true he doesn’t have to worry about the Cursed Seal this time, but he’s still got a revenge fixation that badly needs to be sorted out. I’ll have to talk to Tsunade about therapy for the kid after the tournament.”

Naruto and Gaara left shortly afterward, deciding to run through the night and sleep by the coast before continuing on to Water country proper.

* * *

Entering Water country was simple; they flew. Infiltrating Kirigakure would have been much more difficult, possibly suicidal…and in the end probably not necessary. As they reached the shore of the island on which Kiri lay, Naruto hopped off the Sabaku Fuyuu they had ridden to get there. Gaara paused too, making sure his sand was dry before stepping down next to his fellow jinchuuriki.

He flared his chakra three times, letting Kyuubi’s seep subtly through—only a talented sensor or another jinchuuriki would be able to detect it. Gaara took the opportunity to sit down on his still-hovering Sabaku Fuyuu; he sat agura, rather than seiza, lending an informal atmosphere which Naruto, at least, found both appropriate for the occasion, and amusing coming from his stoic friend.

“Three for Sanbi, I presume?” Gaara asked as they waited. Naruto nodded.

Some twenty minutes later, there was a slight flare of approaching chakra, and four people appeared from the mist in front of them: Terumi Mei, wearing the hat and robe of the Mizukage, her usual bodyguards Choujuurou and Ao, and an ANBU in a turtle mask. No doubt there were several more ANBU stationed nearby, hidden by the mist.

“Greetings,” Mei said, with a serene smile. “I do hope this is not an assassination attempt; we are only just getting back on our feet, and your noble village surely has no complaints with us.”

That was right; Konoha had secretly run supplies to Mei’s rebels during the Kiri civil war, but had not stepped in on the grander scale. That was probably why they were being treated with only the barest amount of suspicion.

“I do have to wonder what two such nin are doing so far from home,” Ao growled, making no effort to be as polite as his Kage. The emphasis on _such nin_ told them that he knew what they were, if not precisely who.

“We were merely hoping to speak with our opposite number,” Naruto said calmly, his eyes on Turtle. “I must admit, I am surprised to find a new Mizukage. Does this mean that the reign of Yagura of the Bloody Mist has ended?”

“You seem remarkably well-spoken for your age,” Mei observed. “Not to mention well-educated for being from Konoha.” She did not answer his question.

Naruto gave a winning smile. “I had the misfortune of encountering one of your rogues, some months back. I learned more than I wished to. If I may say so, Kirigakure can only flourish under the command of such a powerful and beautiful leader, Mizukage-dono.”

Mei gave a musical chuckle, glancing at the ANBU. “This one has a tongue nearly as silvered as yours, Kame-san.”

The ANBU did not speak, but tilted his head curiously as he looked at Naruto. In reply, Naruto held up four fingers in front of five, to signify nine. Gaara, to his right, casually held up a one. The turtle mask dipped slowly in a nod.

“Hokage-sama will be delighted to hear of your ascension, Terumi-dono; though of course, if you prefer it to remain a secret…” Naruto continued, as if the byplay were not happening.

“By all means, report accurately to your Kage, Kinpatsu-kun,” she smiled. “If you do not have business within our city, however, I must ask that you come no closer than this beach. The timing would be poor for outsiders to visit, and I do not want to alarm my populace or a visiting village’s shinobi.

“Quite understandable, Mizukage-dono; we will of course comply,” said Naruto smoothly. “I am currently acting as as a diplomat for Konoha, so we may meet again someday soon, perhaps even in Konoha so that I can offer you our hospitality. If you should find yourself visiting, please do not hesitate to call on me. My name is Uzumaki Naruto.”

“I will likewise ensure a pleasant reception in Sunagakure,” Gaara said softly, speaking up for the first time. “Speak the name of Gaara, son of Rasa, and you will be well taken care of.”

“You are both too kind,” Mei smiled again. “We will take our leave now. Please, rest as long as you need; Kame will remain to accompany you. Otherwise, you will be monitored, but not eavesdropped upon, by my word as a Kage.”

“It is you who is too kind, Mizukage-dono,” Naruto sketched a bow. 

Gaara inclined his head. “May you enjoy a long and happy reign.”

With a last smile, Mei vanished, as did Choujuurou and Ao. 

Turtle waited a short while, then reached up to unhook his mask. Beneath, they saw a young-looking face with pink eyes and a long scar up the left cheek. “Greetings to the bearers of Kyuubi and Ichibi,” he said softly. I am Yagura, partner to Isobu of the Three Tails. I have no other name but Kame-san, and I can assure you that Midorikatabami Yagura of the Bloody Mist is dead and gone.”

They spoke at some length, ascertaining what Yagura had done since returning, informing him of what they and their allies in Kumo were planning, and providing him with a Mie kunai of his own. Yagura was as eager as Kurama to take the fight to the masked man, but Isobu counseled caution. This was not unusual for the rather timid bijuu, but Yagura actually agreed that it would be better to strike at a decisive moment. The turtle mask slipped back on as they bid farewell.

* * *

They flashed back to Jiraiya this time—after floating some ways out to sea of course—rather than directly to Konoha, then promptly began moving Northeast. Within two days they had crossed into the land of Waterfalls en route to Earth country. Here, they were momentarily waylaid by a patrol from Takigakure, who paused just long enough to mumble “wrong ones” before vanishing again.

Naruto looked at Gaara. “‘Wrong ones’?” he repeated. “As in, ‘not the right nin’, or ‘not the right jinchuuriki’?”

Gaara just shrugged. “Difficult to say. If pressed, I would favor the latter.”

“So where is Taki’s jinchuuriki?” Naruto wondered as they set off again. “She was one I was counting on _not_ having to track down.”

“Perhaps she has gone to join the two wanderers that Kumo sensed near Yugakure,” Gaara suggested. “Or simply gone out scouting herself without leave, or even looking for a fight with Akatsuki. In the worst case scenario, perhaps she reacted poorly to awakening in the past, and gotten herself in trouble too soon for us to assist. We can only speculate.”

Unhappy with the uncertainty, Naruto increased his speed as they neared the borders with Earth country. It should only take them one more day to reach the vicinity of Iwagakure—like Kiri, they didn’t know precisely where the village lay, though it was not truly hidden, like Taki. They would use the same strategy as in Water country to garner the correct attention, and hope that whoever found them did not try to kill the messenger from Konoha who so resembled the Yellow Flash before he could present his letter of credence.

Naruto grinned. Sounded like a real party; likely the last chance for one before the finals themselves, less than three weeks from now. If everything went to plan, the parties in question would both be low-key affairs, with as little blood spilled as possible. Naruto would do everything in his power to ensure that everything went to plan…but he would be lying if he said he weren’t a little bit thrilled at the possibility of a fight, even now—perhaps especially now, when everyone would underestimate him. Still, that would tip his hand, and Kurama was right, it was better to let the bigger players step into the open and then crush them, rather than having to drag them out of hiding. Naruto had always been hyper, Kurama providing him with all the playful energy of a fox…but foxes were also sly, and patient. 

It might take a little time, but in the end, they would get their prey.

* * *

Far away to the North, under the shade of a wide straw hat, a pair of sharingan eyes fluttered open.

“Something wrong, Itachi?” asked Hoshigaki Kisame, noticing his partner’s sudden wakefulness.

“Another nightmare,” said Itachi softly, without getting up. “About…the future.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : The beginning bit is in response to a review I got. There wasn’t much effort made to be constructive, but I could understand the reviewer’s intended criticism, so I thought I’d offer my explanation for Naruto’s choice to suddenly speak formally last chapter. Yes, it _is_ out of character; he did it on purpose to make them shut up and listen. People behaving out of character is a reason to pay more attention to them. I think you’ll find he loosened up considerably as the conversation went on.
> 
> To briefly address another complaint: the entire point of the spar with Kakashi was a _test_. Kakashi’s job was to find out how strong Naruto was; specifically, if he was strong enough to actually be a Tokubetsu Jonin if Sarutobi decided to give him the promotion. Naruto didn’t ‘win’ the fight—Kakashi was fighting down to an appropriate level to see if Naruto could match it. In Taijutsu, he exceeded it; Bukijutsu, not so much. If it wasn’t clear enough, Kakashi was _crushing_ him in weapons, and probably always will, since Naruto favors hand-to-hand or ninjutsu. Genjutsu is a non-starter, but at least Naruto can get free of them. Naruto also ended the test before either of them could really get creative with the ninjutsu portion, because he has some trauma associated with the Headhunter Jutsu (or whatever the direct translation is). No, it wasn’t necessarily Naruto’s full power (he didn’t use Sage Mode, for instance), but it also wasn’t Kakashi’s full potential.  
>  If all of that fails to convince you, take another look and realize that Kakashi never lifted his headband in that fight. Yeah.
> 
> Tenten got her promised spar. A naginata is like a spear, but instead of a traditional spearhead it has a sword blade (don’t recall seeing one in _Naruto_ ). Kusarigama is usually translated as “chain-scythe”, a weapon Tenten favored during the Fourth War. The _Naruto_ wiki also tells me that Hanzou of the Salamander was a practitioner. A wakizashi is a sword of middling length—longer than a tanto (like Sai’s) or ninjato (like Sasuke’s) but shorter than a full katana. Tonfa are lengths of wood (usually) which most often have a small perpendicular handle near one end, but they can be improvised like short batons.
> 
> For the record, Roshi has _not_ told Onoki that he’s from the future. Nor has Yagura told anyone. Nor has Gaara. Han and Utakata, and B and Yugito, instead have each other to confide in and plan with.  
>  Concurrently, I hope Killer B sounds all right, by the way; I’m **really** not confident writing him.
> 
> Overall, I guess this was technically filler, but it was high-time Naruto got to check in with at least some of the other jinchuuriki and make sure they weren’t doing anything too drastic; we’ll get back to the A-plot of the chunin exams next time, I expect.
> 
> Finally, if you pop over to my FFN profile page, you’ll see a link to a forum I constructed if readers want to interact with me about my stories. I haven’t had any takers yet, but I’d love to engage with you guys a little more publicly.


	6. Borrowed Time

“Murderer!”

_Naruto couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. The twisted faces of the Oto genin leered at him, skin cracking and eyes gone dark from_ Edo Tensei.

“Murderer! We never had a chance!”

_They reached for him almost lazily. Naruto tried to flee, to escape, but it was like moving through quicksand. Their twisted hands drew closer, and still closer. Kin’s fingers were clenched around senbon, dangling bells to lock him in an illusion that struggling would only draw him deeper into. Zaku’s Air Cutter cannons were directed at either of his ears, pointing inward, ready to shred his brain. Dosu’s Resonating Echo Speaker rose agonizingly slowly, preparing to destroy his balance and chances to escape._

“Slaughtered us like lambs.”

“Cold-blooded killer.” 

“Worse than Orochimaru.”

_No. No no no no no._

_Beyond his victims, fires seemed to burn beyond the horizons, and a tremendous, hideous statue grew larger, and larger, until it blotted out the sun. It’s terrible eyes opened, and the moon glowed suddenly red._

_**Is this the bright future you seek?** _

* * *

“No!”

With a strangled yell, Naruto burst awake. There was a hand grabbing his shoulder, and in an instant he had formed chakra claws around his fingers and impaled it, heedless that he pressed too deep and cut himself too.

There was no answering cry of pain. Instead, the hand simply crumbled and vanished. The unexpected silence on top of the shallow stab wounds brought Naruto fully awake, and he looked around.

Gaara sat opposite him, a full five feet away, and a trickle of sand retreated from Naruto’s side. Naruto blinked, no longer even noticing the blood dripping down his arm. “A nightmare…”

“Evidently,” Gaara grunted. His lips twitched. “It is fortunate I know to wake you at arm’s length.” Dark humor was far from Naruto’s mind, however.

Naruto shook his head to clear the lingering terror, flicking the blood from his fingertips. Within moments, the wound in his shoulder glowed a dull red, and the oozing blood slowed, then stopped. It would be fully healed within the hour, Naruto thought clinically, looking down at the parted flesh as though it belonged to someone else. He glanced back up at Gaara.

“Thanks.”

“What is troubling you?” Gaara asked after a moment. Naruto, who had been cleaning off his hand, glanced up, eyebrows quirked. “Your usual nightmares do not leave you this disoriented,” Gaara clarified.

Gaara had been the last jinchuuriki to fall, in the other future—he had been with Naruto almost to the very end. For his final mission, he’d volunteered to delay the enemy, so that Naruto could sabotage the Gedou Mazou statue. Naruto had held out hope that Gaara had escaped, until Shukaku entered his mind along with the other bijuu.

“Naruto,” Gaara interrupted his reminiscence.

“Those genin I killed,” Naruto whispered. “I didn’t need to. I was more than strong enough to just capture them. They didn’t have to die. But I snuffed out their lives, like I was no better than that masked bastard.” Hot tears welled in the corners of his eyes, and he made no effort to dry them.

Gaara said nothing. 

Naruto hadn’t expected anything different. Gaara had first killed at a very young age, and he and Naruto had debated the idea of mercy at length in the other future. Gaara was a proponent of making sure that the enemy stayed defeated, and when it came down to it, even Naruto had to agree that there were some people who were just too dangerous to let run free: Zetsu and Tobi sprang to mind. 

Still, Gaara had also conceded that Naruto’s sense of mercy had saved people who arguably did not deserve second chances…such as Gaara himself, one might argue. Naruto had an uncanny sense of empathy, able to figuratively walk hundreds of miles in an enemy’s shoes even in the middle of a pitched battle, and he had made it a point of pride that his signature technique could incapacitate an enemy nonlethally. True, it wasn’t Naruto’s very _first_ kill, even disregarding the Edo Tensei revenants that he had destroyed, but every life he had taken cut into his soul. One of the most thrilling things he had realized about being returned to the past was that those victims were no longer dead at his hand, and that he had another chance to make things different.

And yet, apply a bit of stress, and Naruto extinguished three lives as callously as the likes of Orochimaru. He was utterly disgusted with himself.

The tears built, but never fell. “I don’t want to be that killer, Gaara,” Naruto whispered. It wasn’t an insult to Gaara and they both knew it—just a statement of fact. Gaara had his own ethos; it was distinct from Naruto’s but they respected each other and worked toward the same goal: a better future than the one they had left behind. 

“Then do not be,” Gaara spoke at last. “We cannot change what is now behind us, but the future is never set, and there is no telling how much time we have.”

Sniffling, Naruto finally dashed away the burning tears. He nodded. “I won’t give up. We’ll work for a brighter tomorrow. Believe it.”

Gaara’s lips twitched—from him, as good as an encouraging grin. “Just as soon as we get out of this cell, and these restraints,” he commented sardonically, the shackles in question clanking around his wrists.

Naruto shrugged, still breathing raggedly, and scratched at his wrist under his own cuffs. They had been apprehended by an Iwa patrol barely a mile outside the city, and had promptly been brought to a holding cell with chakra-blocking restraints slapped on their wrists and ankles. Their protests had been ignored, and neither of them had fought back. “It’s not like these are really stopping us from leaving, if we wanted to.”

Gaara hummed. As demonstrated amply by his still-shifting sand and Naruto’s own chakra-claw induced wound, the chakra-restraining seals on the manacles were not nearly strong enough to block all of the power a jinchuuriki could bring to bear. The two could probably escape untouched without ever removing the cuffs, to say nothing of simply overloading the seals and breaking them, or vanishing to the Mie kunai Naruto had surreptitiously dropped just before the Iwa-nin appeared.

As it was, each of them simply flared their chakra four times, one after the other. The guards on duty appeared outside the cell almost at once.

“What was that?” one barked nervously.

Naruto, pretending to be asleep once more, jerked ‘awake’. “Wha-?” he yawned.

They turned to Gaara. “You, then…” The guard started again, but Gaara merely stared, his utterly stoic face looking as innocent as he was capable.

The guards began muttering, but seemed reluctant to open the cell. A moment later, they all snapped to attention, as both they and the prisoners felt another sudden flare of chakra nearby.

“Back to your posts,” Roshi grunted as he entered, gesturing the guards out of the room. They all snapped salutes and left at once, leaving Roshi to glare at the two prisoners.

* * *

Utakata sighed. This mission of theirs had been preposterous from the start, when you really got down to it. He was no diplomat, and Han, imposing though he was, simply went on too many tangents to debate effectively. 

They had entered Hoshigakure as envoys, intending to discuss the village’s political standing and determine how receptive they might be to an alliance with other villages, large and small. The plan, of course, was to dissuade them from potentially falling in line with the enemy, warning them against Amegakure in its current state, and the dangers posed by Akatsuki. Everything had been going splendidly until the de facto village leader accused them of wanting to steal the village’s “star”.

The star was, in fact, a meteorite that had been found in a crater where the village now stood, and which emitted a radiation that enhanced chakra. Hoshigakure, nominally an ally of Konoha, had a long tradition of training its ninja in the radiation; their Mysterious Peacock Ninja Art made their chakra strong enough to form solid wings or ropes, while shifting the color first to purple, then—so the legend went—to a rainbow-hued chakra so powerful, the village’s founder had declared himself “Hoshikage”. 

Remarkable…except that those exposed to the radiation for too long tended to die horribly of massive internal hemorrhaging and organ failure—the so-called Hoshikage himself had expired before his fortieth birthday.

Five shinobi wreathed in purple chakra were now floating, captive, in Utakata’s bubbles, the village’s current leader among them. He was screaming his head off about the glory of the village, and how the prior leader had been a fool to end the Mysterious Peacock training. 

Han simply stared at him, impassive as ever. Utakata turned his attention to the other four. They seemed very young, none of them older than thirteen or fourteen, and all of them were panting far more heavily than was natural for the minimal exertion they had managed before Utakata caught them.

The rest of the villagers had fled, believing they were under attack, but now reemerged when neither Han nor Utakata made any threatening moves after restraining their attackers. 

And then there was a collective intake of breath, as the leader’s raving turned to how he’d had no choice but to assassinate his predecessor, lest the Village be overlooked by their clients and annexed by Konoha. Never mind that Konoha didn’t _do_ such things; the man was plainly power-mad, and his admission that he had killed the evidently well-liked former leader had turned the village against him quickly.

Now, suddenly, instead of protecting themselves and giving warnings, Han and Utakata found themselves protecting the vile leader from his own villagers, and in the position of having to guide the village out of a bloodbath without seeming to serve their own interests too much. That the current leader had gained power at all, told them that there was a genuine fear in the village of being subsumed by a larger power, even if his methods were disliked.

Han blinked at Utakata. “This is troubling.”

“You don’t say,” Utakata said sardonically. He pinched his nose. “We need Uzumaki here…”

“Uzumaki? _Uzumaki?_ ” ranted the captured leader, Akahoshi. “The Uzumaki are gone; it’s only a matter of time before Konoha turns on us as they did on Uzushio!”

Han wheeled around to face the man. “Our friend is Uzumaki, and you have mistaken your history,” he pronounced. Steam puffed from his armour to punctuate his words. The four captured children all stopped struggling, staring at Han.

“There’s an Uzumaki living?” one asked. “Akahoshi-sama told us that all the Uzumaki were killed when Konoha betrayed them.”

“Konoha was derelict in their duty to their sister village,” Han agreed. “But it was not the Leaf that destroyed the Whirlpool.”

“It was! It was them!” Akahoshi spat, practically foaming at the mouth. 

Looking between the calm Han and their frantic leader, the four other captives’ chakra wings began to shrink. When the purple, flamelike chakra was gone from all of them, Han waved a massive hand at Utakata. Utakata sighed again, but lowered the four to the ground and let the bubbles pop harmlessly.

“Your village is a proud one,” Han rumbled. “You will need a new Hoshikage. But if you wish to be seen as truly powerful, you must not fight _for_ power. Fight for honor, fight for love, fight for the joy of bettering yourselves, but not for _power_. You see the result of fighting solely for power.” He gestured at Akahoshi, still struggling mightily. Everyone edged away from him slightly. “However your Hoshikage is chosen, whether as the strongest or the wisest, he or she should come from a generation not blinded by hate.” Han’s eyes swept the four who had just been freed, now kneeling seiza in front of him. “If you must have a regent in the meantime, choose one who is quick to think and slow to act. Let your country regain faith and pride in your shinobi, and your village will be stronger for it.”

_Not bad…_ Utakata mused, watching Han’s enormous back. _Not quite up to Uzumaki’s level—I expect he would have them all cheering by now—but at least they’re listening. This may just work after all, if we’re quick enough…_

* * *

“Howdy, Red,” Naruto grinned, and Roshi gave a rusty chuckle.

“I guess I should be grateful you boys didn’t wreck up our jail.”

Naruto pouted. “Aww c’mon, we wouldn’t do something like that…”

“I wasn’t so confident,” Roshi shot back. “I even told Onoki you might be coming, but I guess he didn’t believe me.”

“Under normal circumstances, it _would_ be unusual,” Gaara pointed out.

Roshi snorted. “Maybe he’ll start properly giving me the benefit of the doubt, now. All I managed so far was to convince him to stop employing Akatsuki, and to pay more attention to the other countries.” He eyed the two of them. “What’s your story?”

They recited much the same speech they had given Yagura, and Naruto passed Roshi a Mie kunai that he withdrew from a seal within the fold of his jacket.

Roshi turned the large knife over in his hands. “Did they even _attempt_ to disarm you?” he asked, scowling at the door the guards had disappeared through.

Naruto shrugged, and explained, “Gaara doesn’t carry weapons and I sealed all mine away. We only came here to make contact with you, not for any…” he smirked “…monkey business.”

Roshi rolled his eyes. “Hmph. Certainly never heard _that_ one before. I guess you’d both like to spend the night in here, then?” He made as though to leave.

Gaara cleared his throat to get Roshi’s attention. “It would garner unnecessary attention if we simply disappear,” he pointed out quietly.

The red-haired old man chuckled. “Well, all right then.” He unlocked the cell, and removed the shackles from their legs. “I’ll take you out of town,” he said, opening the door. “But you’ll keep those manacles on until then,” he added for the guards’ benefit. “And don’t come snooping around again. Kids these days…” Trailing off into grumbles, he led the other two jinchuuriki back to where they had been ‘captured’. As soon as Naruto’s cuffs were off, he scampered off to retrieve the Mie kunai he had dropped when the two of them sensed enemies approaching.

Roshi clasped both their hands briefly. “On behalf of Son and myself, know that whatever the Kages and the countries do, we’re with you when it comes to Akatsuki,” he said grimly. “I’m hopeful that we can broker an alliance between the nations, given what we know is coming, but there are still any number of factors that are far beyond our control. You two are doing well to consolidate allies, but from what you mentioned, there’s one more country you need to visit.” He glanced South, then turned to Gaara. “Based on what you told me has already changed, it’s very possible that your predecessor will not meet the same fate he did before.”

Gaara did not so much as blink, but Naruto nodded slowly.

“I think you’re right,” the blond said. “We should at least try. If even Old Man Tsuchikage is gonna try working with us…”

Gaara’s face remained completely impassive, but he exhaled slowly through his nose. That meant he would accept Naruto’s judgment.

“Keep faith, then,” Roshi intoned, and vanished in a Shunshin, leaving only a swirl of dust where he had been standing.

Naruto glanced at his companion, who was staring Southward himself, to where the foothills and mesas would give way to a broad savannah, and eventually to the endless shifting sands of the desert. “I know you don’t like it, but—”

“Don’t waste your words,” Gaara sighed. “I realize what must be done; I simply believe it will be more difficult than you wish to think.” He stepped forward, materializing a Sabaku Fuyuu platform under his feet as he did so. “Come.”

* * *

Yagura adjusted his turtle mask as he faced down the rogue nin across from him. Both of them stood upon the water, on a small lake in the middle of an island near the Land of Waves, having skipped apart after a taijutsu clash, reaching for weapons. Yagura unsealed his hookstaff, giving it a small twirl and feeling its weight settle comfortably into his hands.

“That isn’t yours,” the rogue said, suddenly, his glittering eyes fixed on the hookstaff. “That belonged to Chigiri no Yagura.”

“I could say the same to you,” Yagura replied calmly. The rogue’s hand clenched around the needlelike blade he wielded—one of the lost blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. “Return Nuibari and your crimes may be pardoned.”

The rogue scoffed. “Don’t make me laugh. I would never be trusted in Kiri again! Even if I did want to go back, I’ve seen that woman they’re calling a kage now; I won’t live in a village overrun by bloodline-using freaks.”

“I have been tasked by Mizukage-sama to retrieve the Swordsmen’s blades,” Yagura said steadily. “If you will not return it, then I will take it.”

“You want it?” he laughed. “Here it comes!” And he hurled Nuibari at Yagura, the needlepoint nearly invisible through the faint mist, trailing fine ninja wire like thread. 

Yagura was intimately familiar with all the blades. Between Zabuza and Mangetsu, he had fought against all of them at some point. This rogue was not the one who had left the village with Nuibari, and did not seem strong enough to have killed the likes of Kuriarare Kushimaru, so to be holding the weapon now, must have bought or stolen it somewhere along the line. He was very unlikely to be familiar with many capabilities of the so-called “longsword”. More likely, he simply recognized the famous blade and coveted its reputation to pierce through anything.

But it was Yagura’s job to retrieve the seven swords and oversee the training of a new, loyal generation of Kiri Swordsmen, who would be a symbol of pride for the land of Water once more.

There was no time to lose.

* * *

“Our search was as thorough as ordered, Danzo-sama,” said a flat voice from behind a blank mask. “Neither jinchuuriki has been seen within the village for several days, and only sporadically over the past two weeks. The Kyuubi vessel sparred with one of those eliminated from the chunin exams, and has been seen exiting the village twice with Suna’s jinchuuriki. Nobody has seen them reenter the village, and attempts to follow them have met with no results. Even so, the Hokage seems unconcerned.”

Danzo steepled his fingers, saying nothing.

“The Kyuubi vessel’s home is inaccessible,” the Root shinobi continued his report. “Our agents reported that entering is impossible through any means. When attempted, there is a glow that suggests the use of fuuinjutsu, but the only result is that one finds oneself exiting the door they attempted to enter. This applies to the windows also. The walls and ceilings resist breaking to an unrealistic degree, and it is likely that the floor is the same.”

_Entering a door results in leaving by that door without ever successfully going into the home,_ Danzo mused. _Setting aside the immense complexity of a seal necessary to do such a thing, it recalls an old riddle…_

He raised a hand, and the Root agent ceased speaking at once. “Have an agent attempt to enter the home walking backward through the door,” he ordered, offering no explanation.

“It will be done, Danzo-sama,” the Root replied at once. 

Danzo gestured for the report to continue, his eyes on the file on the desk in front of him. _Uzumaki Naruto… Have you become a weapon against all Hiruzen’s wishes?_ Unspoken, even in his own mind, was the certainty that such a weapon _would_ be Konoha’s to use, or it would cease to be. There was no need to state the obvious, after all.

* * *

“Why do we have to make an appointment?” Naruto complained as he paced around the waiting room outside the Kazekage’s office. “Even when I was a kid I could go see Jiijii whenever I wanted!”

“Not every village is Konoha, nor is every kage Sarutobi Hiruzen,” Gaara replied calmly. Gaara sat calmly on a small stool that fit the decor of the room well, but which was in fact made from the same sand as the Sabaku Fuyuu he had ridden on to get here. His eyes followed Naruto’s pacing across the room, up the wall, back across the ceiling, and down the opposite wall to where he had started. “You are going to wear a rut around the room,” he added, as Naruto began his umpteenth circuit.

Naruto threw his hands down over his head in frustration. “Maybe then people would stop ignoring us! You _know_ how much I hate being ignored!”

Gaara sighed, a tiny smile twitching the corner of his mouth. Before he could say anything, however, the door behind the desk creaked open, though there was nobody behind it.

“Kazekage-sama will see you now,” murmured the receptionist, without looking up from her paperwork, or acknowledging Naruto dropping down from the ceiling.

Naruto’s eyes flicked to Gaara, suddenly solemn. “It’s your show,” he said in a low voice. With another sigh through his nose, Gaara led the way into the office that had, in the lost future, been his.

His father sat behind the desk, seemingly absorbed in his own paperwork. “What are you doing here, Gaara?” he asked in a tired voice. “You are meant to be in Konoha. What is so important that you could not await my arrival?”

Gaara pulsed his chakra, using a few grains of sand to push the door closed behind Naruto, who immediately leaned against it and folded his arms silently. “Your planned assassination, father,” Gaara answered, crossing his own arms.

“Which one?” his father chuckled bitterly. “Every Kage must contend with—”

“The one planned by Orochimaru,” Gaara interrupted, and his father’s head snapped up to look at him. “He will kill you and use your guise to kill the Hokage and destroy Konoha. You will never see the outcome of your foolish betrayal, Rasa of Sunagakure.”

“How can you know this?” Rasa asked, eyes narrowed.

“Does it matter?” Gaara shot back. He felt he was being extremely expressive, though he suspected Naruto would tell him later he’d been as flat as ever. “You know that it makes tactical sense to someone like Orochimaru. You were only a pawn to him, father.”

“What do you know of Orochimaru?” Rasa pressed.

“What more than common knowledge do I need of the Sannin no Hebi?” Gaara asked rhetorically. “He is a traitor and a known madman, whose only stated goals are to master all jutsu in the world and become immortal, and whose morality will offer no resistance to his pursuit of those goals. He does not care about Suna. Your life is a loose end. He will use you up and kill you, leaving our village without a leader just as we are plunged, alone, into a war against a superior and rightfully enraged opponent. How long has it been since your last contact with Orochimaru?”

Rasa froze.

“He missed the last meeting with no explanation, yes?” Gaara almost smirked. “You ask why I am here, father? I am here to tell you that I am cancelling your plan.”

The Kazekage leapt to his feet, slamming his hands down on the desk. “How dare you! I am your kage, your commanding officer, and your father, and—”

“And ‘following orders’ is not enough excuse to save any ninja from torture and execution,” Gaara cut across him, certain that only Naruto would hear the sharpness in his tone. “A competent leader accepts criticism as a chance to grow. Or, in this case, a chance to continue living.”

Rasa’s face twisted. Dark rings appeared around his eyes, heightening his resemblance to his son, and what looked like shining sand boiled out of a pouch tied to his waist. It rushed toward Gaara in a wave, but rather than defend himself with his sand, Gaara merely glared and tensed his chakra. The stream of gold dust bent downwards, crashing to the floor. Rasa stared, incredulous. “Jiton?” he whispered.

Gaara gave a tiny sniff. “Yes and no,” he murmured. “I lack the ability, but Shukaku does not.”

“Then…you have subjugated the beast?” Rasa gasped.

Gaara shook his head. “We are partners. Once the source of Shukaku’s madness was identified, we were able to make a connection.”

“The source?” Rasa repeated. “What does the source of insanity matter?”

In answer, Gaara shut his eyes. With a moment’s concentration, his ever-present sand armor shifted to display Shukaku’s juin markings. When his eyes opened again, they contained Shukaku’s characteristic pupils, though they remained Gaara’s usual teal color. When he spoke, there was a slight vibrato under the monotone. “Rationality being restored was strange. I thought at first it would simply be an opportunity to overpower the ant and flee. But Gaara held firm and helped calm my rages, and Uzumaki taught us restraint.”

Rasa’s wide eyes moved from Gaara to Naruto, who gave him a grin that had rather more fang than usual, to complement the whisker-marks on his cheeks and his suddenly vertical pupils. “For a jinchuuriki to enter a foreign village is an act of war,” he whispered.

“Then it is a good thing our village is allied to Konoha, father, or we would have been guilty first,” Gaara said sardonically, and Rasa grimaced.

“Then you, too, have ‘partnered’ with your demon?” he asked Naruto.

Naruto shrugged. “Partnered, yes, but the bijuu aren’t really demons,” he offered. “I’ve fought real demons; they generally want to kill all the humans, destroy all life, or fully annihilate the planet. The Nine just wanted to be left alone, and only attacked us when they were forced or provoked.” Rasa frowned, but didn’t contradict him. “Uzumaki Naruto, by the way,” Naruto added. “And while directly explaining would be violating a village secret, I can say that the uncanny resemblance you’re noticing is _not_ coincidental.” Rasa gave a slow, exaggerated blink. “But hey, what’s a little information shared between allies?” Naruto finished, with another fanged smirk.

Rasa sat slowly back down, looking at the two thirteen-year-olds facing him with the authority of kages. “It is plain to me that you have a source of information which I lack,” he said quietly. “And I cannot stand up to two jinchuuriki myself. Your appointment was for discussion. Let us proceed.”

Naruto scoffed quietly, only loud enough for Gaara to hear, but apparently unable to stop himself. “Couldn’t even take one of us…”

Gaara merely let out the soft sigh he reserved for the blond before turning his attention back to his father, the curse marks fading from his skin as he spoke again. “We will discuss,” he agreed. “I confess, your…acceptance surprises me. Perhaps we will yet be able to reveal our…‘source of information’.” He could all but feel Naruto’s incredulous gaze on his back, but he ignored it.

“As you so…delicately…pointed out,” Rasa replied, the sardonicism in his flat voice making him sound more like his son than ever, “Criticism is a chance to learn. And whatever your source, you are correct that Orochimaru has been out of contact. I do find myself curious how you have become so strong, so quickly, but while I am eager to test you… Tactically, it makes sense to reconsider this plan.” His lips quirked. “The council will be displeased that I have changed my mind after all the difficulty I had convincing them in the first place, but then, it seems to me that the council is always displeased.”

Gaara shut his eyes for another moment, presumably speaking to Shukaku, before he heaved another sigh. “For the sake of my mother, I will work with you in this respect, Kazekage Rasa,” he said formally. “In return, I will require a large degree of autonomy, with the understanding that my actions will be for the good of Sunagakure and the shinobi world.”

Rasa tilted his head, but gestured for Gaara to continue.

“Naruto and I will return to Konoha to complete the chunin exams,” Gaara informed his father. “But Naruto has already been tested by the Hokage and given a commission to Tokubetsu Jonin, as well as a letter of credence. These should be sufficient to allow me to travel as I need.” He paused. “Temari and Kankurou are unaware of my source, so pressuring them will gain you nothing,” he added, a hint of warning in his tone.

“Distant though I have been from all of you, your siblings never faced the troubles I placed on you,” Rasa murmured. “And while undoubtedly they made you strong, allow me to say that for whatever it is worth, I am sorry that you grew up unable to trust. That fault lies with me, and my anguish at losing your mother.”

The discussions and negotiations carried on for some time, and neither jinchuuriki could really blame the Kazekage for prodding them with questions, trying to learn more from them. They didn’t give much up, but in the end Rasa agreed to furnish Gaara with a promotion and a similar diplomat’s appointment following the chunin exams and a discussion with the Hokage.

* * *

They spent a week in Suna—during which they had a lot of time to themselves because everybody avoided Gaara like the psychotic murderer he used to be—before they had to return for the finals. Naruto wanted to simply flash there via Hiraishin, but Gaara dissuaded him.

“We still have no indication of Orochimaru’s intentions,” he reminded Naruto. “It will tip our hand if he does attack, but if he chooses to return to the plan and kills the Kazekage, our trip here will have been for nothing.”

Naruto thought it unlikely, but agreed, and they joined the Kazekage’s caravan as he travelled to Konoha for the third round. As it turned out, they met no opposition other than some bandits, who wisely chose to flee at the first sign of jutsu.

They detached themselves from the caravan a short way outside Konoha, beyond the range of any scouts, and flashed to Jiraiya’s Mie kunai, a short distance from the pair of markers that were Kakashi and Sasuke.

“Any trouble?” Naruto asked in his kage voice.

Jiraiya jumped a little, placing a hand over his heart dramatically. “You sounded just like your father,” he murmured.

Naruto gave a quick grin, before his eyes sought out his teacher and teammate. They were sparring, and while a quick eye-smile told Naruto that Kakashi had noticed his presence, he didn’t think Sasuke had. Just as well, probably.

“Nobody except you has even come near this place,” Jiraiya said comfortably. “And the kid honestly seems pretty stable without _you-know-what_ affecting his mind. Not like you described him. I just wish there were more opportunities for some research around here, if you know what I mean,” he added, waggling his eyebrows.

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Don’t change, Ero-sennin,” he said, his voice exasperated but fond. “I never got to ask, what’s the network’s latest word on Orochimaru?”

“Big fat zero since he left Akatsuki,” Jiraiya replied. “Normally there’d be at least some signs of his presence; unexplained disappearances and the like, but there’s just been nothing. He’s gone completely underground, even in the Land of Sound itself. I got hints for a while about some kind of deal between Oto and Suna, but you guys have already headed that off at the pass, so I don’t have anything to go on.”

“How about at home?” Naruto asked. “Anything on Danzo?”

“What about Danzo?” Jiraiya said curiously, his eyes drifting from the fight below them back to Naruto.

Naruto wiped an exasperated hand down his face. “I told you that Kabuto was originally a Root spy, and it was Danzo who orchestrated the coup in Amegakure all those years ago. Did you really believe Shinobi no Yami went to all that effort training those flunkies only to just give up when he was told? Root is still creeping around, and he _will_ cause more trouble in future.”

Jiraiya groaned. “Danzo was always hard to keep an eye on,” he complained. “Too slippery and too clever for his own good.”

“Well, all I’ll say is that whoever taught him about politics missed a few crucial lessons,” Naruto said bitterly, before remembering that he _knew_ who Danzo’s sensei had been. “Or maybe he was sick the day the Nidaime explained that deliberately causing wars is bad. I don’t know.”

Jiraiya ruffled Naruto’s hair. “I’ll put out some feelers when we get back to town.”

Naruto made no effort to remove Jiraiya’s hand from his head. “That’s the real reason we came,” he said. “Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke were so late last time that he was almost disqualified, but this time he’s in the very first match, and I don’t think Jiijii will make the same concessions as last time. Make sure they get there on time?” he pleaded.

“We’ll head back tonight,” Jiraiya promised. “Go on home and get some sleep.”

Naruto nodded, his hair still brushing against Jiraiya’s hand. He reached out blindly for Gaara, grabbed his shoulder, and in an orange flash, they were gone.

* * *

“What was that light?” he heard Sasuke asked Kakashi.

“A distraction,” Kakashi lied easily, slipping through his student’s guard and landing a knifehand strike to his floating ribs. “Pay more attention to your opponent.”

Sasuke growled, but his sharingan was already active and Kakashi was winning even without his own. The first and hardest lesson of the training trip was that the sharingan was only a tool, not a source of unlimited power, and that Sasuke had to get stronger in order to use the tool at all effectively. He’d been forced to do nearly everything with his sharingan engaged to practice keeping it on, and Kakashi had still beaten him handily in every fight without ever lifting his hitai-ite. Just being able to see his movements was pointless when Sasuke wasn’t fast enough to block or dodge; if anything, it just made each hit all the worse because _he knew it was coming and couldn’t stop it_.

Still, he had gotten a lot stronger and faster over the course of the trip, and he could at least take pride that he was forcing Kakashi to use both hands to block him these days. The tournament started tomorrow, and Sasuke had it in the bag. He would face Naruto in the finals so they could see who was better. It was about time. 

Sasuke gave a determined nod as he went back on the offensive.

* * *

Orochimaru sat alone in his lair. Not brooding, exactly; that was more in the nature of an Uchiha. But pondering—yes, pondering—pondering his next actions. This was the twelfth year of the Third Hokage’s second reign, but Orochimaru remembered the yellow flashes of the Fourth, the monkey summons of a younger Third, and between them the monstrous strength of Tsunade-hime. In a battle that could not have happened, because the Fourth was already twelve years dead, the Third too old, and Tsunade wandering drunkenly through the Land of Valleys the last he had heard… 

Orochimaru had scrapped his plans for the chunin exams and Uchiha Sasuke; plans that had taken years to lay and months to prepare. Ever since Itachi had bested him, he had set his sights on the younger brother. It would have taken years to train up the weaker body, but obtaining the sharingan would have been worth every effort. Still, he wasn’t too proud to change or abandon plans that he thought would fail. Admittedly, he had no idea _how_ his devious plan could fail, but those same damnable, undeniable visions had shown him what was unmistakably an older Sasuke, bearing his _juinjutsu_ …and Orochimaru himself some little distance away, with dark grey sclerae in his eyes. For _Edo Tensei_ to be turned against him, he would have to be already dead, which meant that the plan must have been a failure.

And, in those strange, fractured visions, he had also seen that apparent flunky of Pain’s—the masked man who called himself Tobi—striking down the kages of past and present, his eyes glinting red from sharingan that he should not have. That, alone, was enough to make Orochimaru glad he had decided his views no longer coincided with Akatsuki, he thought savagely, twisting the slate blue ring on his left little finger. This _Tobi_ was clearly a problem that needed to be dealt with. That was something he could devote his efforts to.

Orochimaru began to rise, then paused. Where was Kabuto? He had been present in the visions, hidden away and swathed in a cloak to hide his features. And today…he should have sent a report. The tournament was due to begin tomorrow; the plan, if it were going through, would have begun then. The boy was such a dutiful little spy; it was unlike him not to check in. Perhaps he had been compromised? That could be a reason why the plan could fail, but it seemed unlikely. Kabuto wasn’t likely to crack under just a little torture. There had to be something more.

Yes…that was the way to look at this. It was not a setback, it was a puzzle. A puzzle that Orochimaru did not yet have all the pieces to. But he would, oh, he would. For now, _Edo Tensei_ was his alone, and even Kabuto did not know he had it. That could be a place to begin. He could not possess a resurrected body, unfortunately, or he would have abandoned his plans for the living Uchiha at once. But perhaps someone with the sharingan may have seen something, somewhere, that Orochimaru could use? Or they may know someone who did. That could be a place to begin, he thought; better, perhaps, than even the kages. No, the place to start was with the Uchiha, who had ferreted out village secrets even without intending so, simply by dint of having the sharingan. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? The obedient revenant would also be able to tell him of the eyes’ disadvantages better than any scroll, so that he could better combat those who possessed them, and be better prepared when he possessed them himself.

And he thought he knew just where to start: an Uchiha prodigy was a golden child; both Itachi and little Sasuke had proved that. They had access to many things that an average member of even the noble Uchiha clan did not. Orochimaru had in mind just such a prodigy. All he would need was some genetic material…and he was certain there was some in one of his labs… 

No time to waste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : So. While I was staggering through writing this chapter, I couldn’t help noticing that this story has clocked 1000 follows on FFN. That is… incredible. Wow. (If we consider the bookmarks on AO3 as well, we’ve been there for longer still, but my point stands.) I have no words—this is utterly unbelievable. Thank you all so much for reading this absolute drivel ^^; (And putting up with my update rate, ha.)
> 
> Hoshigakure (the Village Hidden Among the Stars) was from an anime-only filler arc, which was honestly not that bad. I think the filler can be a decent place to draw plot points from for fic, as long as you establish them. Their signature Kujaku Myōhō made their chakra purple; the ‘rumor’ that it becomes rainbow-colored when mastered is from an _excellent_ (and sadly dead) AU fic called _Kaibunkage_.
> 
> I’ve had a lot of comments and correspondence pondering about the last bit of foreshadowing in the previous chapter. I can say that nobody has yet come anywhere close to correctly guessing the twist, so I’m just going to keep on plowing ahead and occasionally dropping hints. Head over to the forums (via my bio page on FFN) if you want to discuss!
> 
> _Jiton_ is Magnet Release, which Rasa (and his predecessor) possessed, but Gaara does not. However, _Shukaku_ is able to manipulate magnetism because of the cursed-seal markings on his sandskin. (As noted waaaay back in Chapter 2, these same markings can also cause unregulated intake of nature energy, which is what drove the Ichibi crazy. Naruto taught Gaara how to help Shukaku control the intake, so they’re much more stable now.) Consequently, by opening himself to Shukaku and the juin, Gaara can exert magnetic forces in a pinch. (The level of concentration required is still kinda crippling though; it’s not something he can use effortlessly like his sand.)
> 
> “Shinobi no Yami” means something like “the darkness of ninja”, and is a play on Sarutobi’s moniker of “Shinobi no Kami”, meaning “the god of ninja”. Referring to Danzo as The Darkness is something I believe I picked up from the story _The Accidental Sensei_ by The Raven Sennin, which I quite recommend for the dialogue and character moments.
> 
> Hopefully I didn’t reveal more than I meant to with Orochimaru. I went over it carefully, but I didn’t want any more delays in getting the chapter out. We’ll see.


	7. Fish In A Barrel

“Naruto.”

Naruto blinked awake at the sound of his name. He felt the wall behind him, so he must have rolled over when Gaara’s presence left his back. Processing this, he turned to look at Gaara, who was framed in his doorway.

“Why didn’t you go back to your hotel when you woke up?” Naruto asked groggily.

“Your security is still active,” Gaara grunted. “I was not able to leave without destroying your seals. Also, you went straight to sleep without dealing with the intruders.”

“Intruders?” Naruto tilted his head.

Gaara rolled his eyes and turned away. Kipping up from his futon, Naruto followed him into the front room and found three black-clad figures lying unconscious just inside the door.

“Huh.” Naruto scratched the back of his head. “Well, the Hiraishin seal is in the bedroom, but I guess I should get in the habit of clearing the whole place when I come in. Wonder who figured it out, though.”

“Figured what out?” Gaara repeated.

“The first level of security is an old prank seal; you have to figure out a puzzle to get through it,” Naruto explained. “Obviously there’s more after that, but I’ve found it’s a handy first layer because people tend to give up when they keep finding themselves back outside.”

Naruto turned the intruders over with his toe, revealing blank white masks. He clicked his tongue. “Root. Guess that answers my question.”

He laid a hand on the doorknob, which glowed for a moment, deactivating his security until the door opened and closed again. “Pick ‘em up, would you? We’ll take them with us to Jiijii. If we hurry, we can make it before he leaves for the stadium.”

Tendrils of sand gripped the motionless shinobi, and Gaara lifted them after him as he followed Naruto outside. He stepped off the balcony onto a Sabaku Fuyuu, and waiting for Naruto to lead the way across the roofs toward the Hokage’s tower.

Having learned his lesson, Naruto paused outside the window of the office and knocked on the frame. “Come in, Naruto-kun,” came the old man’s amused voice.

“Ohayo, Jiijii,” he said. “I found some trash in my apartment this morning when I woke up. Figured you’d know where to bury it. Rest of the mission went fine. See you later!”

“Naruto!”

Halfway out the window again, Naruto paused. “What?”

Sarutobi was staring incredulously between him and the three unconscious Root. “Did you…kill them?”

“Eh?” Naruto blinked. “No, they’re in a forced coma from my security seals. They broke into my apartment…hell, I don’t even know when. Sometime in the last few weeks. They’re Danzo-teme’s Root.” Sarutobi opened his mouth to ask something, but Naruto was in a hurry and kept talking. “Don’t bother torturing them, they’ve all got a seal on their tongues that prevent them from talking; I’ll find a way to break it after the tournament. I’ve gotta go though, or we’re gonna be late for the third round, and I wanna see if Higurashi-san has finished any more Mie kunai, since I’m down to my last one.”

Sarutobi’s gaze had hardened, and remained on the prisoners once Naruto identified them as Root. “Very well, Naruto-kun. I will be watching along with the Kazekage, who stated that he met with you?” He looked up finally.

Naruto nodded. “Yep. It’s still the real Kazekage, so we’re even further off the original rails. He’s pretty strong though, so even if there’s still some kind of invasion, it won’t get very far.”

“Only you would refer to a kage as ‘pretty strong’,” Gaara snarked, voice as flat as ever. Sarutobi smirked. Naruto just shrugged.

“I expect a good match, then, Naruto-kun,” Sarutobi said.

Naruto snorted. “Not until the finals. Gaara and I are both fighting Kabuto’s flunkies; you should arrest them immediately when they lose. Temari-chan’s good for her age but she’s not a master of wind yet. Neither Kankurou-san nor Sasuke can stand up to Gaara. As for the last match…” He met Gaara’s eye. “We’ll make _that_ something to see. It’s a promise.”

“This is going to be a political nightmare, isn’t it?” Sarutobi deadpanned. Naruto just cackled as he leapt away, Gaara floating after him.

* * *

They were the first contestants to arrive at the stadium, though the stands were already half-full. They crossed the semi-open terrain toward the competitor’s box, Naruto waving up at the crowd, Gaara floating beside him, arms folded.

The rest of the seats filled over the following twenty minutes as the rest of the fighters arrived. Kankurou and Temari jumped up together, giving Naruto and Gaara extremely odd looks. Naruto merely waved at them too. Gaara drifted over to join them at the edge of the booth as Akadou Yoroi and Tsurugi Misumi entered. Both gave Naruto matching glares, though it was hard to notice Yoroi’s through his sunglasses. They appeared to be trying to intimidate him, but they were so unimpressive it was almost laughable. Sakura was right behind them, and had moved to join Naruto, but squeaked at the looks he was getting. Naruto unconsciously shifted to stand partly in front of her, shielding her from both the gazes and the killing intent—weak though the latter was.

“Ohayo, Sakura-chan,” he said calmly, ignoring the speech that the Hokage was starting to give. He patted her shoulder, then added softly, “Come on, their killing intent has nothing on Zabuza’s. You can take this.”

Sakura blinked big emerald eyes at him—she looked so damn _young_ with her hair still long—before she nodded, her jaw firming. He grinned in return, and—feeling a surge of familiar chakra—turned back in time to see Kakashi shunshin in, one hand under Sasuke’s arm, just as the Hokage finished speaking.

“Not late, are we?” he asked, his visible eye crinkling. Sasuke jerked his arm free.

“For a change,” Naruto shot back. He eyed Sasuke’s new outfit. “I’ll grant you look better in darker colors, bastard, but what’s with the onesie? You’re dressed like a two-year-old.”

Sasuke opened his mouth automatically to retort, but seemed to flounder for words. “At least I’m not wearing kill-me orange,” he muttered at last.

Naruto graciously ignored him, moving up to the edge of the booth, a little way down from Gaara. “You’re up first. You ready?”

Sasuke smirked. “Hn. I won’t have a real fight until I beat you in the finals.”

Naruto rolled his eyes where Sasuke couldn’t see him. “Get there first, Cocky-chan.”

Sasuke growled at the insulting honorific, but leapt out of the window after Kankurou, who was already waiting in the middle of the arena beside the proctor, dropping the large object he was always carrying. Gekkou spoke to each of them, receiving nods, and then looked up to the Kage’s box. Rasa and Sarutobi both nodded as well, and Gekkou leapt back, signalling the start of the match.

Sasuke flung a brace of shuriken at once. Kankurou dodged them easily, leaving his bandage-wrapped package on the ground, but the throwing stars curved around his back in one of Sasuke’s signature moves, due to the ninja wire looped through them. The trailing wires wrapped tightly around Kankurou, but his hands were already clasped in a snake seal, and with a whirl of sand, he used Kawarimi to replace himself with what Naruto knew to be his puppet Karasu.

“Neat use of wire,” Kankurou called from Karasu’s original position. “But you’re ten years too early to beat _me_ with a trick like that!” He drew a double handful of kunai himself. “Let me show you how that’s done.” 

He flung the kunai in a wide spread, some at chest level, some angled upward. Sasuke slipped between two of them, even snatching one out of the air, but presumably had the presence of mind to activate his sharingan and see that Kankurou had attached chakra strings to the rest of the knives. They looped back and flew at him again, forcing him to deflect one and dash away from the others.

“He’s gotten faster,” Naruto commented to nobody in particular.

“Eto…” Sakura said, staring down into the arena beside him. “How is he making those knives chase Sasuke-kun?”

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at her. “Chakra strings,” he explained shortly. “They’re a Suna specialty, ne Gaara?”

Gaara, on his other side, nodded silently. 

“They’re pretty useful,” Naruto went on, as the seemingly free-floating knives continued to chase Sasuke all around the arena. “But they do take a lot of practice, and I’m not great at multitasking.”

“So is he just going to chase Sasuke-kun around until he gets him?” Sakura asked, still watching avidly.

“Nah, he’s herding Sasuke into position,” Naruto answered. “See, chakra strings weren’t made for what he’s doing, even though that’s useful as hell.”

“Then, what were they made for?”

Rather than answer, Naruto just pointed. Sasuke had dodged the flying knives one last time, and was now standing directly in front of where Kankurou had left Karasu lying. At once, all the knives dropped from the air.

“Giving up?” Sasuke called, but his eyes widened when the chakra strings shot past him instead of retracting, and attached to the bandaged bundle on the ground behind him.

Without Sasuke’s chakra running through it, the ninja wire still wound around Karasu snapped easily as the puppet rose, tearing through the bandages and reaching for Sasuke with its four spindly arms. Sasuke dove aside at once, but took scratches to all four limbs from the blades that extended from Karasu’s hands.

Naruto sucked in air through his teeth. “It’s only a matter of time now. Kankurou must have tired him out more than I realized, if he let those hit him.”

“He’s not bleeding that much, Naruto!” Sakura frowned, smacking his shoulder. “Show some support for your teammate!”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want him to win,” Naruto said. “But Suna puppets’ blades are always poisoned.” 

Sakura looked horrified.

“It’s _probably_ not lethal,” he added soothingly. “But it’s definitely going to slow him down, which just means getting cut more or getting chased until he passes out.”

True to his prediction, Sasuke was dodging visibly slower than before as he skipped away from Karasu’s attempts to box him in.

“Kankurou prefers paralytics,” Gaara offered shortly. Temari looked scandalized that he was sharing such information with ‘enemies’. Sakura just looked terrified.

“I mean, Kankurou will have an antidote even if the hospital doesn’t.” Naruto assured her. “It’s only common sense; _he’s_ got to practice with the blades too.” She didn’t look comforted. 

Sasuke was panting heavily now, sweat pouring off him as he wrapped an arm around his stomach. He was reaching for his pouch when Karasu abruptly flew at him again. Sasuke brought his hands up very suddenly, flashing through the seals for his Goukakyuu no jutsu. He inflated his chest, then breathed out a huge fireball at the approaching puppet, which obscured the view between the competitors as Kankurou jerked his creation out of the way.

Naruto thought he was the only one who saw that Sasuke had done the seals with his hands already full, for he didn’t have to reach down to his pouch again to fling the kunai he’d been holding at the spot where Kankurou had been standing. Between the fire and smoke, it was easy to miss the knives flashing across the gap, but they flew true, thudding into each of Kankurou’s shoulders. He roared in pain, but his arms dropped, and so did Karasu.

Sasuke wasted no time in charging him. Kankurou tugged Karasu back into action, but without the full range of motion in his arms, it responded sluggishly, and Sasuke took full advantage, rushing up to Kankurou and burying a fist in his gut. He kicked out at Kankurou’s hand as well, forcing his fingers wide and disrupting his manipulation of the puppet, which appeared to trip as half of its body suddenly jerked in another direction. Carrying Kankurou to the ground with him, Sasuke held a kunai to his throat, while keeping a foot on one of his hands.

“That puppet of yours,” he gasped, breath still coming painfully. “You control it using chakra strings from your fingertips. From the way it’s not stabbing me, I’m guessing you need both hands to control it as a whole. So you can surrender now, or I’ll crush your hand.” He increased the weight on the foot slightly.

Kankurou tensed slightly, but Sasuke had him pinned well. He could probably get away from the kunai at his neck, but might lose his left hand. He could pull Karasu apart and attack with just the limbs and their blades, but of course, Sasuke would keep running. If Kankurou chose to keep going, Sasuke might pass out from the poison, but undoubtedly Karasu would get damaged too, and Sasuke might well cut his throat in the bargain, intentionally or not. And finally, Naruto realized, his father had arrived the previous day and no doubt informed his children that the plan was off, so it made sense when instead he gritted out, “Fine, I give.”

“Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!”

* * *

Sportingly, Sasuke had pulled Kankurou to his feet, so Kankurou didn’t hesitate in handing over the antidotes to his poisons when the medics approached them both. Naruto found himself staring. Was this who Sasuke should have been? Gruff, but friendly enough in his way. Damn Orochimaru and Tobi for killing the spark of that.

Kabuto’s teammate Misumi jostled past Sakura on his way down the stairs, and Naruto forced down the instinct to put a kunai in the back of his head, instead surreptitiously ensuring that Sakura hadn’t been subtly injured. He glanced at Gaara, who was starting the promised showing-off by creating his own stairs out of sand, one step at a time, in a flashy but inefficient use of multiple Sabaku Fuyuu. Well. This was going to be short.

At the starting word from the proctor, the cork of Gaara’s gourd fired out at Misumi, who twisted his body sinuously around it.

“Ewww, that movement didn’t look natural,” Sakura complained, shuddering.

Naruto shrugged, for Misumi was already taunting Gaara’s youth and boasting about the Soft Body Modification surgery he’d undergone. “He’s like a rubber man, but it’s not all _that_ impressive,” Naruto put in, as the man charged at Gaara, who was standing impassively. “He still has all his bones and organs, which are all still vulnerable, if a little harder to hit sometimes. Besides,” he added, as Misumi entwined himself around Gaara like a snake, wrapping up his torso, limbs, and even head.

He called loudly that he’d break Gaara’s neck if he didn’t surrender. Gaara made no answer, except to act as Naruto finished. “–that’s not really Gaara.”

Misumi, evidently taking ‘Gaara’s’ silence as defiance, went through with snapping his neck. Gaara’s entire ‘body’ took on the color of sand, revealing itself to be a clone, which promptly shaped into spikes that jutted in every direction, stabbing Misumi countless times. The man jerked back, but the sand was relentless, wrapping around him in turn and constricting him tightly enough to break bones itself. There was a swirl of sand near the proctor and Gaara reappeared.

“He is unable to move or escape,” he informed Gekkou, who blinked at him, waited a moment for Misumi to prove Gaara wrong, then obligingly ended the match.

“Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!”

* * *

“Are you ready, Naruto?” Sakura asked nervously.

Yoroi had already vaulted the barrier and was positively stamping toward the proctor as Misumi was carried off by a different set of medics than before—plainly ANBU in disguise.

“Are you kidding?” he asked Sakura. “This fight is gonna be even more boring than that one. It’s gonna be up to you to give the folks a good show, eh, Sakura-chan?”

Naruto hopped up on the wall himself. He momentarily considered flinging a Mie kunai and using Hiraishin to flash to it in the ring…but he could save that for the finals. He paused on the front of the booth instead to wait for Gaara to re-ascend to his level, fistbumping his fellow jinchuuriki before hopping lightly down the thirty or so feet to the arena floor. He rolled his shoulders and then placed his hands behind his neck as he strolled up to Gekkou.

The proctor reiterated the rules, then jumped back again as the match started. Yoroi’s hands immediately started to glow, and he glared at Naruto from behind his sunglasses. Naruto refused to adopt a ready stance, instead looking around at the crowd, most of whom seemed unfriendly.

 ** _Idiot, you haven’t proved yourself by defeating Gaara_** , said Kurama, though by his tone he was displeased by the villagers’ attitude. 

_And if we head off every threat like we want to, we’re not going to get a great chance to change their hearts and minds_ , Naruto finished for him, scowling a little internally. 

**_With that attitude, your plan to show off in the finals may be borrowing trouble_** Kurama warned him, ever the cautious, wily fox.

Naruto gave a mental shrug. _We can counter that by having Jiijii repeal the law about us, and releasing the truth about dad. It’s not like they’ll be able to disbelieve it once we use Hiraishin against Gaara._

Kurama grunted an affirmation, then added, **_That filth is finally beginning._**

Turning his attention outward again, Naruto saw Yoroi was charging at him, glowing hands outstretched. He fought against all his instincts and let the man approach, remaining perfectly still with his hands on his head until Yoroi grabbed him.

“Ha!” the idiot crowed. “You were too arrogant, and now I’ll absorb all your chakra!”

“All of it?” Naruto repeated. “Good luck with that.”

He felt the slight drain on his reserves, but ignored it. Instead, he simply sat there as Yoroi leeched away his chakra. _I’m seeing three options here_ , he said, speaking instead to Kurama. _I can let him keep doing this all he wants, I can force him to absorb_ your _chakra instead, or I can force him to absorb_ nature _chakra instead. What do you think?_

Kurama hummed in thought. **_Nature chakra would turn him to stone, which would prevent him from being interrogated. Not that he’s likely to know anything useful, but you never know._ My _chakra would shred his coils, and might also kill him or drive him insane as it reaches his heart or brain. So yours is the best option._** He paused. **_Either he’ll stop when he’s full and be too ‘bloated’ to do much, or he’ll try to drain you dry, in which case he’ll probably rupture his coils anyway._**

 _My money’s on the last one_ , Naruto said, smirking up at Yoroi, who was beginning to sweat even as he kept draining. _This pony’s way too cocky over his single trick._

Sure enough, Yoroi soon began gasping, as his glasses slipped, and his fingers knotted in Naruto’s jacket, less to keep him from escaping and more to keep Yoroi himself from collapsing. Another moment, and the man had fallen to his knees, gasping. Naruto waited a minute longer, then inhaled and blew on his forehead, timing it for when the man couldn’t take any more and collapsed, twitching, onto the ground.

“He’s done,” he informed Gekkou. “Tell the medics to treat for soldier pill poisoning.”

He strolled back toward the competitor’s box, waving idly at the baffled crowd, as the same medics arrived as for Misumi. He smirked up at the Kage box. From this angle, he could see both Tsunade and Jiraiya flanking Sarutobi, as well as two of the Kazekage’s guards. The two sannin gave tiny smiles, which he returned before starting up the stairs, meeting Sakura coming down.

“How did you do that?” she asked breathlessly.

“His technique is to steal chakra,” Naruto answered. “I’ve got way too much for him to steal, so he collapsed like a glutton who overate.” He patted Sakura’s shoulder. “Temari’s a tough fighter. Do you want help?” Temari was a friend, after all, but she wasn’t his teammate.

 ** _And she’ll probably win anyway_** , Kurama added. Naruto hushed him.

“No, I…I can tell she’s a wind user with that fan. That’s enough for me.” Sakura smiled nervously. “I’d better go.”

“Good luck, Sakura-chan.” He held up a fist, and she bumped it, plainly confused by the gesture but mimicking what she’d seen him do with Gaara earlier. Putting his hands back behind his neck, he finished climbing the stairs, leaning on the railing beside Gaara, the only other competitor still up there.

“This is going to be rough,” he said bluntly.

Gaara nodded.

* * *

Sakura opened her match like Sasuke had, with a double handful of shuriken. Of course, hers had no ninja wire to guide them, so Temari simply opened her Kyodai Sensu slightly and blew them away. Only one purple ‘star’ was visible, and against Sakura instead of Tenten, that was likely to be enough, Naruto reflected. Hopefully Sakura-chan would put on a good show here, so that Baa-chan would have an excuse to take her on as a student again. She was an amazing medic and had picked up Tsunade’s Strength Of A Hundred technique to a better extent than even Shizune-nee, but she would do much better if she thought she’d earned it.

Sakura began sidestepping, trying a different angle with some senbon, but again her weapons were blown off-course. As she moved into Temari’s blind spot, however, she brought her hands up for a different technique. Five hand seals, stopping on Ram, and she brought her hands up to her temples to focus. Temari glanced at her, then turned and looked up at the sky. She unfolded her fan fully and blasted what Naruto’s senses registered as a vacuum void up at nothing.

 _Genjutsu_ , he realized. _When did Sakura-chan learn that?_

 ** _Well, we_ have _been away for a month_** , said Kurama reasonably. **_The illusion must have been of something falling out of the sky toward her. Maybe fire, given the precise way she responded._**

Naruto nodded, watching as Sakura peppered the distracted Temari with shuriken and senbon. To his practiced eye, none of them were on nerve clusters, so Temari’s movements would not be greatly hampered, though they would undoubtedly hurt. He wondered idly if Sakura had thought to poison any of the weapons, but her horror earlier at hearing Sasuke had been poisoned probably ruled that out. _Ah, well, Baa-chan will break her of that habit._

Temari whirled her fan around herself, creating a blast of wind that travelled outward in every direction, not unlike Naruto’s own Daikakoukiryuu. “You should have killed me while I was distracted, little girl,” she snarled. “The pain from your attack broke the illusion, but you could have used the opportunity to win the damn fight.”

Sakura was already charging, kunai in hand, and Temari let her approach, folding her fan back up. Sakura thrust and slashed and even kicked, but Temari easily dodged or deflected every attack with the steel frame of her fan. The kunai went flying away, but Sakura clenched her hand and wound up a punch. Temari caught it on her fan, but the metal dented in, even as Sakura shook out her hand in pain. Scowling, Temari brought the closed fan up, spun it around her shoulders, and cracked it into the side of Sakura’s head. Sakura dropped like a stone, leaving Temari frowning at her fan, which would no longer open smoothly.

 ** _Looks like she was subconsciously using the rudiments of the old hag’s technique even now_** , Kurama mused, as the original set of medics hurried out to examine Sakura. 

_Not that surprising, considering how hard she always hit_ , Naruto shot back. _Maybe she misunderstood how to enhance muscles when they taught that in Academy?_

 ** _Considering the caliber of teachers you had…_** Kurama grumbled.

 _Iruka-sensei was great!_ Naruto argued, ignoring the Hokage calling that there would be a half-hour intermission while the injured combatants were patched up.

“We should eat,” Gaara said, interrupting Naruto’s defense of Iruka.

“Huh?” Naruto said, directing his attention outwards again. “Yeah I guess a snack would be a good idea. Where do we go, out to the concessions with everyone else?”

“I imagine they will give us a wide berth,” Gaara said. “Unless you want to bring back food from the city.”

“That’d probably be faster,” Naruto agreed. “Stay out of sight, I guess.” With a pulse of chakra, he vanished to a Hiraishin marker on a rooftop behind the water tower, intent on scrounging up a small meal of yakitori and shioyaki, and maybe some dango.

* * *

Hidan of Yugakure jerked awake, cursing as usual. He dodged Kakuzu’s casual attempted beheading and stomped out of the inn they were staying at near Tanigakure.

What the _fuck_ had that dream been about? A wild-looking battle, the sort of carnage that Jashin-sama would have adored, and Hidan hadn’t seen himself anywhere. Kakuzu had been there, and Deidara, and Itachi, and a whole bunch of other fuckers that he was _pretty sure_ were already dead, like the Yondaime Hokage and the Sandaime Raikage and even Sanshouo no Hanzo. It would have been a glorious fight.

The one person he didn’t see anywhere was _himself_.

What utter _bullshit_.

Twisting the ring on his left index finger, he cursed their current orders forbidding him from massacring any villages and stalked out of town. Maybe he could find a caravan or bandit camp to slaughter in Jashin-sama’s name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. Hello there, internet. I've missed this story, and by the looks of the reviews, so have you. So here we are.
> 
> For those curious, the genjutsu Sakura used was Jigoku Kōka no Jutsu, the 'Descending Hell' technique, which appeared in an anime filler arc and makes the target see and feel a fireball plummeting from the sky.
> 
> I made note of some objections people made when the last chapter was published (even all this time later, I remember). There are a couple things that I didn't know canon had changed at the time I'd written it, as well as one big fat misconception that I was too dumb to notice. I'll be correcting those later on, and passing them off as the characters themselves learning things but…well, I've already 'fessed up that I messed up, as it were.
> 
> See you on the other side.


	8. The Promised Fight

At the same time that Naruto and Gaara ate a snack of grilled chicken and fish, Han and Utakata found themselves at the border of Stone country, the latter kneeling warily, the former standing impassive, with one hand tucked inside his kimono.

“A good run,” Han grunted, and Utakata nearly jumped. It was almost the first words that had passed between them since they’d left Hoshigakure. “We should stop here, however.”

Utakata glanced at the sky. “We could cover plenty more ground before nightfall,” he replied, not really arguing, but curious.

“There is no true hurry this day,” Han answered, moving ponderously to sit on a nearby rock. “This is a small land. Ishigakure is a mere few hours from any border. But they are rarely kind to intruders. Better not to approach as evening does. And arriving early enough in the day will give the impression we have no wish to stay overnight.”

Used to the larger man’s odd, halting way of speaking by now, Utakata shrugged his indifference. “As you wish. Where after? North or South?” _Around Ame,_ went unsaid. 

North would take them through the edge of the land of Earth, in the direction of Kusagakure and Takigakure, both nominally allies of Konoha, and eventually toward Iron and Lightning country. 

South meant slipping through the land of Wind into River country, in the direction of Tanigakure and Numagakure, and then presumably on around the bay of Wave Country toward the land of Demons, and finally back up to Water.

Steam rose in gentle streamers around Han’s head, curling out from under the brim of his hat as he appeared to think it over. “Better South, I think. North means Earth, and I don’t know how successful Roshi-senpai has been at reconnecting with Onoki-sama. I might be scolded for leaving. If they’ve noticed. Further on, we’d have to avoid Iron entirely, and then enter Sound country. I have no wish to test ourselves against Orochimaru.”

“South could be problematic too,” Utakata reminded him. “And North may have its benefits. Akatsuki definitely have bases in River country, and both Kusa and Shimo sided with Ame last time.”

“Tani did not participate in the war on either side,” Han countered. “Nor Numa. Nor the warrior-monks of Demon country. I believe they were Konoha’s allies, but there was no time to retrieve them in time for the war. Uniting smaller countries on our side may well be just as invaluable as preventing Ame from doing so.”

“All right,” Utakata relented. “South it is, then. What else do we know about Ishi, for tomorrow?”

“The country carved out during the last war. By separatists from Earth. Under the protection of Suna; noninterference in exchange for tacitly weakening Iwa.” Han paused, seeming to ponder, or perhaps simply trying to remember. “Their only truly significant clan were formerly lesser Iwa nobles. Unsatisfied with being ‘lesser’, perhaps. Known as tacticians. Kekkei genkai to create and manipulate glass. Doubtless the current clan head is the Oyabun.”

“Have you visited before?”

“Many years ago, with Roshi-senpai. I may not be remembered.” Han scratched his chin. “We should not linger there. If our message is not well-received. We are unlikely to change minds as in Hoshi. It may be the best we can hope for is to plant the seed.”

Utakata sighed. “Very well. The lead is yours, tomorrow.”

Han nodded gravely, his manner as solemn as ever, no matter how flippant Utakata’s tone became. “I will perform to my best ability, my friend.”

* * *

With twenty of their thirty minutes elapsed, Naruto and Gaara headed for the infirmary to check on their respective teammates. Sasuke and Sakura were both lying in beds, as was Kankurou, but thankfully they were all conscious. Temari sat beside the puppeteer’s bed, looking apprehensively between her youngest brother and Naruto. Naruto, of course, merely waved, moving to take a seat of his own between his teammates, while Gaara drifted over to his siblings. 

“Good match, Jerk,” he greeted Sasuke, flopping down onto the uncomfortable plastic chair.

“Hn. At least I put in some effort, Loser,” Sasuke retorted, seemingly automatically, and Naruto couldn’t help but wonder, again, at how _different_ Sasuke was without the Cursed Seal. He’d gone very nearly to the ends of the Earth trying to bring Sasuke back to Konoha; it had been his main goal for years until the War had started and he’d been forced to change his priorities to ‘saving the world’. 

He’d never given up on Sasuke, but...he also hadn’t seen the other boy terribly often, the past five or so years. Now that he was back, he was determined to keep Sasuke out of Orochimaru’s hands, of course...and yet...the bond that they’d once shared was irrevocably different. This Sasuke could never be a rival; Naruto was too powerful already, able to fight on a level that he should have been years from attaining at this age. If anything, Naruto needed to be careful that his ‘sudden’ jump in strength didn’t cause Sasuke to flee the village in rage or disbelief, even without the Cursed Seal.

On the other hand, Sasuke clearly suspected that _something_ about Naruto had changed, given what happened in the Forest of Death. Not that he’d been trying very hard to hide it. And Naruto _did_ want his teammates to get stronger. Well, maybe some encouragement to both of them; enough to raise Sakura’s spirits, but not so much that Sasuke felt he was being patronizing. Not the easiest balance.

“You too, Sakura-chan,” he added, turning to her. “What was that genjutsu you used?”

“Ah… Jigoku Kouka no Jutsu,” she mumbled. “I asked Kurenai-sensei for some tips, since Team 8 was all disqualified.” 

“Great idea!” he enthused. “You’ve got great chakra control; we learned that during tree-climbing, remember? Genjutsu is a cool focus. ‘Specially since I can’t do any.” But speaking of great chakra control… “Ne, Sakura-chan, you know, something you did in your match reminds me of something Ero-sennin told me once, about his teammate Senju Tsunade. She was famous for her chakra control too, that let her punch with the strength of a hundred people at once!” 

“Hai,” Sakura said, smiling proudly. “Jiraiya-sama asked Tsunade-sama to help me prepare, as well.” He knew this from Jiraiya, of course, but nodded along as if it was new to him. “She was only able to spare a small amount of time, but she said I understood the basics of the technique; enough to hit harder than usual without hurting myself.” She glanced down, adding modestly, “I need to practice more, though.”

It had been a small risk, maybe, letting Tsunade instruct her, but Sakura had at least partly reverse-engineered the technique in the other future, presumably with Orochimaru’s help. She had generally favored Kabuto’s chakra scalpels, but at least once in every fight she would punch or stomp the ground hard enough to destabilize the battlefield. But maybe learning from Tsunade directly would help her feel more loyal to the village.

“Awesome!” he said, and Sakura looked almost embarrassed at the genuine praise. “How about you, Jerk?” Naruto turned to Sasuke. “All you used in that match was your old tricks! Don’t tell me you spent a month with Kakashi-sensei and didn’t learn anything new!”

“Tch,” Sasuke scoffed. “Unlike some of us, I don’t have an insatiable need to show off,” he shot back, smirking. “I’ve got a new jutsu I’m saving just for you.”

Naruto grinned. He’d forgotten how it felt to banter with his team without there being hatred behind it. It was…unexpectedly pleasant. “Don’t get overconfident. You’ve gotta fight Gaara first, and he’s also promised me a match in the Finals.”

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. “You even going to make it there, Loser? Who were you even training with all month?”

“Ero-sennin!” Naruto lied. Well, it hadn’t been a lie the first time around.

Sasuke’s brow creased. “He was with me and Kakashi, writing and moaning about the lack of onsen nearby.”

Naruto shook his head. “That was a Kage Bunshin,” he invented easily. “If you give them enough chakra, they can last for a really long time. It’s one of the things he taught me.”

Sasuke was frowning in earnest now. “But… I sparred with him…”

“Didja ever hit him?” Naruto asked, knowing full well that at his age and power level, Sasuke would never have laid a finger on Jiraiya. Unsurprisingly, Sasuke shook his head, looking somewhere between disgruntled and thoughtful. “He was a Kage Bunshin,” Naruto insisted. “The real one was with me, and let me tell you, you’re not the only one with some new tricks.”

There, that would be at least a flimsy excuse for his ‘abrupt’ power boost. Sasuke would still be upset, no doubt, but maybe Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin could parlay his frustration into a thirst to improve _with_ their help, instead of abandoning Konoha to go chasing Orochimaru. Then again, it was probably less likely that he would, without the Cursed Seal—he might not even think of Orochimaru, except in the context of the other Sannin, since the man’s awful presence wasn’t imprinted in his recent memory, the way it had been their first time through the Second Test.

He wondered, briefly, if he could avoid the problem by having Gaara knock out Sasuke during their match, since he had no doubt of who would win. But that would really only delay the inevitable, and it might be worse in the end for Sasuke to hear about Naruto’s strength secondhand.

**_We’ll just have to take things as they come,_** Kurama said gruffly. Naruto gave him a mental nod, then got to his feet, cracking his neck. 

It was almost time for the semifinals.

* * *

Terumi Mei was just setting aside a census report when, in the second between blinks, the space in front of her desk was suddenly occupied by a kneeling ANBU. Turtle.

“Your report?” she asked serenely.

He drew a small sealing scroll from inside his robes, laying it carefully on the desk. “Nuibari retrieved,” he said succinctly.

“You’ve nothing further to report?” she asked, arching a brow.

“Nothing else of significance occurred, Mizukage-sama,” Yagura replied calmly.

“Very well, Turtle-san; you may take the rest of today as leave. Tomorrow, I am afraid I must send you out again. A report has reached me of a man with bandages around the lower half of his face terrorizing a small village all the way in the Land of Valleys, using a pair of twin, pronged short swords which channel lightning.”

“The Kiba,” Yagura surmised.

“Indeed.” Her briefing finished, she gave him a warm smile. Passing over the scroll with the mission details. “You may retire for today, Turtle-san.”

“Thank you, Mizukage-sama.” With another bow, Yagura vanished once more.

* * *

As the intermission drew to an end, the ambient noise of the crowd began to steadily rise. With the exception of Sasuke’s match against Kankurou, the rest of the quarterfinal bouts had admittedly been rather boring, so the onlookers were hoping for some real entertainment.

Sasuke led the way back into the arena, head held as confidently as if he hadn’t just been in a hospital bed, and the babble of talk broke into excited, anticipatory cheers. There was a polite round of applause as Temari entered next, crossing to the competitor’s box, then another as Gaara appeared across from Sasuke in a swirl of sand. The cheering and clapping abruptly faded almost completely as Naruto entered last, strolling unconcernedly after Temari. He waved absently at the crowd, already focusing more on his own upcoming fight than the one that was about to begin.

The whispering that had swept the stadium at Naruto’s reappearance was quickly silenced as Sarutobi got to his feet and launched into another speech about the nature of the Exams, and a reminder to the competitors that winning was not as important as demonstrating their level of skill.

Sasuke shot Naruto a smug look at this, which Naruto could make out even from the box. He rolled his eyes for show, but inside, he found himself regretting the old past more than ever. Seeing Sasuke as he could have been, instead of the young man determined to sever the bond they’d once shared, was oddly nostalgic. There was confidence in how he carried himself, and the grace in his walk betrayed just how hard he’d trained his whole life.

None of which, unfortunately, was going to be the slightest help against Gaara. 

All that remained to be seen was whether the ‘new’, more stable Sasuke could accept a defeat as a lesson in humility, or if he would fly into a rage as the Sasuke that Naruto had known for so many years was wont to do.

Gaara looked from Sasuke to Naruto, and raised an eyebrow very slightly. Naruto flicked a few hand-signs back at him. _Don’t crush him._ Gaara gave a minute sigh, but nodded, both in acknowledgement of Naruto’s request, and in response to the coughing proctor.

As the proctor jumped backwards, the cork flew out of Gaara’s gourd, and a thin trickle of sand began to flow out. True to his word, he was plainly giving Sasuke a chance to show what he had instead of going all-out. Naruto would do the same for Temari. There was no reason for either of them to cut loose before the two of them reached the finals.

Sasuke, apparently tiring of waiting for Gaara to make a move—pointless, since Gaara almost never acted first—suddenly dashed to his right, moving counterclockwise around his unmoving opponent. Gaara didn’t bother turning to face him, instead staring straight ahead with his arms folded, even as his sand moved to stay between him and Sasuke.

Once Sasuke reached Gaara’s blind spot, and Gaara still hadn’t moved, Sasuke plunged a hand into the pouches that adorned each of his legs, withdrawing a double-handful of shuriken and flinging them at Gaara’s ‘unprotected’ back. A few tendrils of sand rose up to lazily bat aside those that would hit him directly. Oddly, Sasuke smirked in triumph.

Even as the sand busied itself, some of the shuriken Sasuke had thrown bounced off of others had looked like they would miss Gaara entirely. With a series of tiny _clangs_ of metal-on-metal, there were abruptly a half-dozen more shuriken flying directly at Gaara from all sides. Impressive, Naruto mused; probably an Uchiha trick, relying on endless practice as much as the Sharingan.

Unperturbed, Gaara’s sand tendrils separated into floating lumps, then scattered into shuriken-shapes themselves, which intercepted the new dangers. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke flung yet more more shuriken, and Naruto’s practiced eye noticed the wires attached to them this time, though he wasn’t sure if Gaara did. With a few quick handsigns, Sasuke also spat several small fireballs at Gaara, concealing some, though not all, of the projectiles, and making the matte-painted wire all the more difficult to notice.

More sand poured from Gaara’s gourd, forming a tall, curved wall to catch all the shuriken and fire. The throwing stars seemed to sink into the sand, before abruptly firing back out, now aimed at Sasuke, who escaped back in front of Gaara with a single-seal Kawarimi. The returned shuriken thudded deep into the log that took Sasuke’s place, sending it rolling away as the sand split on either side of its master.

The two masses of sand began to chase after Sasuke, at what Naruto estimated to be about a third of Gaara’s maximum speed. Together, they shepherded Sasuke this way and that, trying to hem him in, but Kakashi’s favorite basic jutsu had evidently been high on Sasuke’s training regimen, because his Kawarimi was both frequent and well-executed.

Finally, as Sasuke yet again narrowly escaped being chased into one of Gaara’s sand arms by the other, he leapt up onto the wall and began to fly through hand signs.

_Ah, so Kakashi-sensei taught him Chidori after all,_ Naruto thought.

_**He is less unstable, I suppose,**_ Kurama grumbled. _**It’s not like it’s the trump card it once would have been.**_

_True._ Once upon a time, Chidori would have cut through Gaara’s sand defenses like butter, and left the redhead entirely vulnerable to Sasuke’s follow-through. But this Gaara had fought alongside Naruto in the Edo Tensei War, and they had crossed paths with a Sasuke who had improved and modified Chidori beyond even Kakashi’s imaginings. The original version…just wasn’t much of a threat.

As Sasuke grasped his wrist with his opposite hand and began to build up lightning-natured chakra, Gaara called the remainder of his sand out of his gourd, scattering it across the ground all around him, where it rose into spikes and caltrops that Sasuke would have to step on or around if he charged. The gourd itself, meanwhile, dissolved entirely back into sand as well and trickled away, something that Gaara didn’t demonstrate often. He was left standing, arms folded, in the midst of a small desert even more full of spikes and spines than the cacti of the Land of Wind.

There was a moment of frozen hush as Sasuke stood on the wall, lightning chirping around his hand, and the crowd held its collective breath. Then, he began to run, gathering momentum quickly as he moved with gravity. He transitioned back to horizontal ground and pelted confidently into Gaara’s field of spikes, his furiously-spinning Sharingan no doubt letting him pick a walkable path through the hazards, though several of the spines of sand drew blood from his legs along the way. With a roar of triumph, he thrust his crackling, electrically-charged hand straight through Gaara’s chest.

Gaara, who still hadn’t moved an inch, slumped as his entire body dissolved into sand. Sasuke stared in shock as the real Gaara floated out from the treeline within the arena on a small Sabaku Fuyuu platform, arms folded as ever. Eyes widening, he tried to leap clear of the sand Gaara had left everywhere, but his hand was still impaled through Gaara’s Suna Bunshin, and the sand tightened before he could pull free. More sand poured inward, surging up Sasuke’s legs, binding his other arm, and closing over his head in Gaara’s signature Sabaku Kyuu.

Temari flinched, obviously expecting Gaara to crush Sasuke in a Sabaku Sousou, but the sand never tightened. Gaara floated over to the proctor. “It was a good battle, but he is unable to continue,” he droned softly, though the proctor’s microphone picked up enough to broadcast to the crowd. “In a few minutes he will lose consciousness.”

The proctor, Gekkou, waited to see if Sasuke would be able to break out, but Naruto knew the sand would prevent him from moving, and Sasuke didn’t have the raw chakra necessary to overpower a jinchuuriki.

“Match, Gaara of Sunagakure.”

* * *

Gaara’s sand drew back from Sasuke’s face, revealing that he was, indeed, unconscious. When the medic team approached, Gaara transferred Sasuke to the stretcher, then drew his sand back to re-form his gourd, hardening it with chakra and refilling it before floating back up to the competitor’s box.

He settled between Temari and Naruto, and Naruto immediately slugged him in the arm. “I told you to go easy on him.” Gaara didn’t bother to reply, as Naruto discreetly shook out his hand—Gaara’s Suna no Yoroi was nearly diamond-hard these days.

Temari was still looking between the two of them with wide eyes, both because Gaara _hadn’t_ killed Sasuke, and now hadn’t attacked Naruto for invading his personal space. Naruto grinned at her, then vaulted over the rail into the arena for his match, his coat billowing out behind him. He felt a strong breeze that meant Temari was once again surfing down on her fan, and he swept her a polite bow as she landed across from him.

“Listen,” she said, softly enough that it wouldn’t carry to the crowd. “I don’t know who you are or what you did to help Gaara, but…thank you.”

Naruto shrugged, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “Your brother was lonely for a long time. He didn’t trust anyone, so he didn’t have any friends. I’ve been there. I could have really easily turned out just like he did. But I found friends, and they helped. Now Gaara’s my friend, too, and he’s going to want more. So…just give him a chance,” he finished, lamely. Still, the speech overall was for Temari’s sake more than Gaara’s, in the new timeline.

“I…I’ll try,” Temari said slowly, then her resolve visibly firmed. “No. I _will_. Thank you again, Uzumaki Naruto. Just don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Naruto grinned back, foxlike. “But don’t go underestimating me, either. I may not carry a great big fan, but you’re not the only Wind-user around here.”

“Begin!” Gekkou called, leaping backward.

Temari, characteristically, opened the match with a mighty sweep of her fan, using the seals inscribed in the weapon to generate her signature Kamaitachi no Jutsu. Rather than counter, Naruto took the best defense option: being somewhere else.

Skidding to a stop halfway around the arena, he brought his hands together in three quick seals. “Fuuton: Kami Oroshi!” The Divine Mountain Wind technique whirled around him, before blasting toward Temari in several dervishes.

Temari’s eyes widened, and she brandished her fan horizontally as fast as she could. “Fuuton: Todoroki Kazekabe!” The Roaring Wind Wall distorted her appearance as the very air ground against itself to block Naruto’s attack. When the defensive jutsu faded at last, Temari blinked as the image of Naruto she had still vaguely seen through the Wind Wall seemed to disappear.

Then her instincts screamed, and she snapped her fan shut and raised it to parry a stab from Naruto’s thigh-blade. Sparks flew as the dagger glanced off the fan over and over, and Temari dodged frantically backward. Abruptly, the next stab she was expecting never came. Naruto had dropped the knife from his right hand and grabbed her fan, catching the knife in his left and slashing at her thigh.

Using his grip on the fan as a fulcrum, Temari kicked both her feet backward and headbutted Naruto squarely in the face. As he staggered back, she slammed one end of her fan to the ground and kicked the dagger from his hand.

Undeterred, Naruto shook his head to clear it and charged in again, this time barehanded. Temari yanked the fan back up to parry, but Naruto dodged around it this time and got inside her guard, forcing her to drop it and engage him in taijutsu. The blows exchanged were quick and brutal, but it was clear to the nin in the audience that despite her ten-centimeter and _apparent_ three-year advantage, Naruto had the upper hand.

“Ugh. Back. Off!” Temari growled, flinging herself backwards and clapping her hands together in a dragon seal. “Fuuton: Kazekiri!”

The Wind Blade took shape and flew toward Naruto, but he backflipped over it. Planting his feet as he landed, he flashed through half a dozen hand signs in the time it took Temari to roll back to her feet. “Fuuton: Shinkuukyuu!” He inflated his chest and then exhaled, still holding the dog seal.

There was a distortion in the air in front of him that flew toward Temari before she could dodge, and enveloped her. Immediately, she grasped her own neck, visibly choking. Her eyes bulged, and after a moment, she fell to her knees. She made an effort to crawl forward out of the jutsu, but collapsed. Weakly, she tapped the ground.

Naruto released the seal and the jutsu, and there was an audible clap as air rushed to fill the void he had created and trapped her in. She drew in a great gasp, even as a trickle of blood leaked from one of her ears, where the pressure had burst her eardrum. In an instant, Naruto was in front of her, offering her a hand up. She took it, and he pulled her up, with an arm over his shoulder.

There were scattered cheers from the crowd, probably from those people who had been brave enough to bet on him despite the long odds, and at least some polite applause for his sportsmanlike conduct, despite its rarity among shinobi. In a swirl of sand, Gaara appeared beside them and took his sister’s other arm. She flinched very slightly, but allowed it, and then leaned on him rather more than on Naruto.

As they helped Temari toward the infirmary, Naruto heard Jiijii address the crowd once more. “The finals will begin in twenty minutes, between Gaara of Sunagakure and Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure!”

* * *

Sakura, who had decided to leave the infirmary in favor of a seat in the stands, found herself sitting next to Ino and the rest of Team Ten, with Team Eight a row in front of them.

Most of them were struck dumb by the matches they had just seen. Chouji, Kiba, and Ino were still staring at the field, blank shock written plain on their faces. Shikamaru’s eyes were narrowed, and he was glaring at Naruto’s back as the boy disappeared as if he were a riddle that needed solving. Shino was characteristically inscrutable, and Hinata, while evidently surprised, was smiling.

It was, naturally, Ino who turned to Sakura. “When did Naruto get so strong?”

Sakura could only shake his head. “I don’t know. He said he trained with Jiraiya-sama over the break, but…”

“But what?” Shikamaru asked sharply. “You noticed odd behavior before that?”

Sakura hunched her shoulders under his scrutiny. “I don’t know. He bought that new jacket and new weapons before the exams started. He even gave Sasuke-kun and I each a commemorative kunai, as a keepsake and a last resort. He…I think he called it a Mie Kunai?” She showed them.

“That…looks familiar…” Shikamaru murmured. He closed his eyes for a moment, his hands falling into his circular ‘thinking seal’, but the crease between his eyebrows only deepened. “Why can’t I remember?” he asked, sounding frustrated.

“That’s good steel,” Kiba offered, giving a sniff. Akamaru barked in agreement. “Less than half a percent carbon, I’d say; way higher quality than our regular kunai. Fairly newly forged. And that maker’s chop is the same as nee-chan’s better gear.” He pointed at a small impression near the hilt, in the shape of a cicada.

“Tou-chan’s clan armour has that same mark,” Chouji put in.

“Higurashi?” Hinata offered. “There is a kunoichi with that name on Neji-nii-san’s team.”

“That’s interesting and all, but new gear doesn’t explain why Naruto is suddenly able to go up against people like that Suna girl!” Ino exclaimed. “She had to be at least fifteen, and Naruto graduated at the bottom of our class! It’s impossible!”

“On the contrary,” Shino said, in his quiet voice. “It is merely improbable. Why? Because while we are clearly lacking some information which would explain the method by which he has improved, we cannot deny that Naruto has, in fact, become much stronger. We should be pleased for him. Why? Because he is our comrade.”

Hinata nodded, smiling again. Kiba and Chouji both shrugged. Shikamaru continued to scowl at being taunted with a puzzle he didn’t have all the pieces to. Ino pouted. And all Sakura could do was wonder just how badly she had been left behind.

* * *

“Hurry up, ya pair of old geezers, or we’re gonna miss the finals!” Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes at her grandfather. “Why are you even bothering with the stairs when you can fly?”

“No need to be so hasty, Kuro-chan,” Roshi said, chuckling as he followed Onoki up to the Kage’s box. “We’re already arriving unannounced; no sense in scaring the crowd acting like we’re spoiling for a fight.

Onoki merely grumbled about ungrateful young people, rubbing at his rheumatic back and glaring at the last flight of stairs.

“Whatever, I’m knocking.” The ANBU were aware of them, but it was only polite, after all, and being a newly-appointed jonin, Kurotsuchi was the most junior of them. “Oi, announcing the Tsuchikage, or whatever. Bring up another chair already.”

“Kurotsuchi, I swear by the Sage’s eyes I will discipline you,” Onoki growled.

“Whatever.”

Sarutobi looked flabbergasted to see Iwa-nin, but unlike most Konoha citizens, did not react with hostility. Instead, a broad smile flashed across his wrinkled face, before it settled into a smirk. He clicked his fingers. “A chair indeed for the Tsuchikage. You and your guards are welcome in our box, Onoki-dono.”

“Tch. This isn’t a summit, Saru,” Onoki snapped. “We wouldn’t be here at all, but this one,” he jerked a thumb at Roshi, “Insisted that ‘history was about to change’, and we simply _had_ to see it.”

“I trust there was no trouble on the road?” Sarutobi asked graciously.

Kurotsuchi snorted. “If there was trouble we couldn’t handle, what would the world be coming to?”

Then she shivered, as Roshi fixed her with a gimlet eye, his own voice entirely serious. “There _is_ trouble that would stagger even us together, if it were brought against us. That is another reason we came.”

“Yes, yes,” Onoki waved him off, plopping down in the high-backed chair that was just delivered. “The talking can wait until after the tournament.”

Roshi held Kurotsuchi’s gaze for another moment before he let the matter drop. Her confidence in her grandfather was unshakeable, despite her frequent protestations about his age, so the fact that Roshi was genuinely nervous seemed to be providing a necessary reality-check.

“Well then, honored guests,” the Hokage said, giving a slight bow first to Onoki and then to Rasa, who had been watching the whole exchange in silence. “Let us get the final match underway.”

* * *

Naruto glanced at the clock on the wall in the infirmary, where he had been sitting with the Sand Siblings. 

“It’s time,” he told Gaara, getting to his feet and stretching. 

Gaara nodded.

“You ready to put on a show?”

Gaara’s eyebrow rose fractionally.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

And with that, he threw the doors to the arena back open and strode out to what was undeniably perplexed applause. The audience clearly didn’t know what to make of either of the fighters, especially given their youth and presumed experience.

_If they had any idea…_

Kurama chuckled. _**They will soon enough.**_

Naruto gave a feral grin in response, and Gaara, for once, visibly returned it.

He spared a glance at the Kage box, and was surprised to see Roshi and the Tsuchikage were now present. He gave the three kage a bow, which Gaara mimicked. Catching Sarutobi’s eye as he straightened up, Naruto tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow. The Hokage sighed, but nodded, granting his permission—or at least his acknowledgement—for the political nightmare Naruto had all but promised him.

“Let the final match begin!”

By unspoken agreement, Naruto darted forward at his full speed, given his smaller frame at his current age.

“Konoha senpuu!” He leapt into Bushy Brows’ signature spinning kick, just as he had against Kakashi a month previously, and his extended leg slammed into Gaara’s upraised arm hard enough to send the latter flying, though his shield of sand prevented any actual damage. 

Gaara turned over in the air, nearly horizontal for a moment as he skidded to a halt, his hands already coming up as Naruto charged again. Gaara thrust a palm forward, and a narrow spear of sand extended from his hand, not unlike the chakra burst from a Hyuuga’s Jyuuken strike—though of course, this would cause blood loss rather than sealing tenketsu.

Gaara’s taijutsu style was heavily based on Jyuuken, actually; Naruto had insisted he learn some in the other future, because what kind of self-respecting ninja didn’t know _any_ taijutsu. Naruto had learned Jyuuken from sparring with Neji, Hinata, and Gai-sensei over the years, and was happy to help teach Gaara a style that suited his calm, analytical mind. Gaara had adapted the motions to suit his semi-conscious sand-based techniques, and had ended up with a style that allowed him to impale opponents with sand that was, naturally, still under his control, allowing him to cause internal damage, block blood vessels, or cut off nervous signals.

Of course, Naruto hadn’t been able to take that lying down. Inspired, he had incorporated some Jyuuken movements into his Shioken style, and added on his own twist: since he lacked the practice to create chakra blasts like a Hyuuga, he learned to keep a Rasengan in each hand for palm strikes. Of course, he wasn’t using Shioken, yet.

Naruto, sliding into range himself, slapped Gaara’s hand aside, and began aiming palm strikes of his own. Most of them merely glanced off Gaara’s sand armour, but Naruto was strong enough to stagger the taller boy, and rattle his teeth with a lucky shot to the chin.

Gaara was giving almost as good as he got, however, and Naruto didn’t have armour of sand to protect him. His clothes were bloodied from nicks and near-misses in half a dozen places, including a thin scratch over his eyebrow that hadn’t healed over fast enough to prevent a drip from inching toward his eye. Just as he landed the strike to Gaara’s face, it finally dripped; he was forced to shut that eye, and Gaara acted.

Sand exploded from the ground in a whirlwind that made Naruto have to shield his face and jump back. He dragged a sleeve across his eyes, squinting at where Gaara had been, and saw nothing. Taking no chances, he used Shunshin to move toward one of the remaining stands of trees in the arena. He was nearly there when the ground in front of him cracked, and sand boiled up to form a wall of spikes. Naruto skidded to a halt. Seemed Gaara didn’t want to fight a Konoha-nin in the forest. Good, he’d remembered what happened last time they’d had time to spar in the future.

Naruto spun on his heel, and found Gaara waiting for him. “Tired of taijutsu already, Gaara?” he taunted, grinning. Gaara rolled his eyes—a big reaction from him—and fired a dozen Suna Shuriken at Naruto. If he’d tried to run, no doubt he would have been hit by at least a few, but Naruto simply dropped to the ground, letting the projectiles pass over his head.

Pushing himself back up, Naruto spun chakra in his hand and formed a Rasengan. Concentrating, he reached out for the Hiraishin marker on Gaara…and found nothing. 

_Damn, that’s right; I had Gaara give his Mie Kunai to Octo-pops!_ And of course, Gaara had dissolved his gourd while he fought Sasuke, meaning that the seal Naruto had placed on it was broken up and unusable.

Gaara smirked, no doubt guessing what was going through Naruto’s head, and fired a flurry of sand blades at him.

_Hell with it,_ Naruto decided. He bent his head, held up his hand in front of him, and forced more chakra to the Rasengan, focusing hard to keep the resonance stable as it grew. He charged straight through Gaara’s attack, trusting the whirling chakra of his own to break through.

It worked, at least until the sand he was plowing through abruptly shot inward and attached itself to his coat, pants, and limbs, dragging him backwards and down. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but it certainly slowed him down. Letting the Rasengan dissipate, Naruto hurriedly flung a Mie Kunai at Gaara.

Gaara merely waved a hand, circles around his eyes darkening, and used a wave of Jiton to send the knife flying away from him.

Fortunately, that suited Naruto just fine, as the knife had simply been a marker for him to use to escape Gaara’s sand, and he flashed to it in the blink of an eye. Well-used to Naruto flickering around the battlefield, Gaara had no trouble tracking him, but the crowd let out a collective sound somewhere between a gasp and a scream.

Reappearing in midair with one hand around the flying Mie Kunai, Naruto redirected it back toward Gaara again, even as he threw three more in a spread with his other hand. 

He drew yet another Mie kunai, thankful he’d been able to visit Higurashi-san before the finals to pick up enough to do this. He flashed to the rightmost one, and threw two more—one more at Gaara and another off to what was now his right. Another flash, and he was on the opposite side of Gaara, hurling yet another. Leaving his remaining two sealed, Naruto instead charged another Rasengan, flashed to the knife he’d thrown to Gaara’s blind side, and used Shunshin to approach at his fastest. 

Gaara had let out another, larger wave of Jiton, repelling all the Mie Kunai from where they had landed or were flying toward him, but he hadn’t been fast enough and Naruto was nearly on top of him. Gaara seemed to realize this, for he shot upward on a Sabaku Fuyuu, but not fast enough. Naruto’s Rasengan slammed into the hovering platform of sand, and knocked Gaara’s feet out from under him. Planting a hand on the ground, Naruto twisted and mule-kicked Gaara in the chest, sending him flying toward the wall of the arena yet again.

Gaara once more righted himself before smashing into anything, great arms of sand erupting from his gourd and catching him before hit hit the ground or wall, but Naruto had kicked him toward one of the magnetically-displaced Mie Kunai and was already on him again. Gaara’s face was almost a snarl as he twisted around the attack, trapping Naruto’s extended arm in his elbow even as one of the sand arms smashed down.

Naruto grunted as he felt his shoulder dislocate, and he quickly retreated to the same nearby Mie Kunai with Hiraishin. He supposed he should be grateful that it was only a dislocation, and not a broken bone, which would take much longer to heal. As it was, he wrenched the joint back into place, and rolled his shoulder to make sure it set. 

“More?” he panted at Gaara, who merely narrowed his eyes.

“Version One, only,” the redhead said at last. 

“Cool,” Naruto said, and without further ado he tapped about a tail’s worth of Kurama’s chakra, even as he felt Gaara seize Shukaku’s. 

Naruto’s aura rippled around him, dancing like fire, and then formed the shape of fox’s ears above his head. A thrashing tail extended, even as Naruto himself hunched slightly, his whisker marks deepening, and his pupils becoming slitted, though his eyes remained blue.

Gaara, likewise, had Shukaku’s star-pupils in his teal eyes. His golden cloak’s tail, rounder than Naruto’s, stood up behind him, and the ears were stubbier and also more rounded. His normally-stoic face began to twitch toward a shadow of his old psychotic grin, as Shukaku’s manic battle-lust no doubt began to flow.

Equally eager, Naruto dashed forward, his cloaked feet tearing up chunks of earth with each step, and formed a Rasengan in each clawed hand. He let out a yell that was much nearer a primal roar, though he was still careful to make sure no chakra went to it that could have injured the crowd. Gaara, meanwhile, was not only coating his own limbs in sand, but quite easily tearing up chunks of rock from the ground to grind into more sand.

Naruto leaned down, running with his torso bent almost horizontal, and leaped from the ground to one of the larger floating rocks, hopping from it to one closer to Gaara even as the things began to crash and grind against each other in midair. With a final leap, he smashed the spiralling spheres into Gaara one after another, holding them in place as they detonated.

As the wind from the attacks blasted away the swirling sand, Naruto felt Gaara’s chakra spiking as he forced it…downward? He saw the ground beginning to tremble beneath them again, and tried to leap backwards, but he was too slow.

Sand boiled up from the ground once more and tore through Naruto’s shoulder, hip, and lower leg. Fortunately, none of them were more than superficial, but what made him blink was that the sand was black. Flinging himself backwards, Naruto skidded to a halt on all fours, staring back at Gaara, who was using his ordinary sand to lever himself upright. The sand poured inward, forming a shield that Gaara parted to peek out of. Inside, Naruto could see the new black sand orbited him in thin bands.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “Since when could you use Iron Sand that easily?” he growled, for this was something that he had never seen Gaara do in the other future.

Gaara simply smirked. “You are not the only one to have been hiding some new tricks, Uzumaki.” 

Through the small gap in the sand shield, Naruto saw the Iron Sand settle against Gaara’s skin, before being mixed with and covered up by his usual sand armour. The shield of sand then fractured, and attached itself to Gaara’s back, taking the shape of Shukaku’s arms growing grotesquely from his Jinchuuriki’s back.

“I thought this was Version One only?” Naruto scoffed jokingly, thickening his own chakra shroud, though he made sure not to draw out a second tail. He raised one hand over his head and began to charge an Odama Rasengan, as large as he could make it without using nature energy. As he prepared to charge one last time, he felt the wounds he’d taken from the iron sand finish knitting themselves together.

As though that was a signal, he lunged forward at the same time that Gaara stretched both sand-arms toward him. In a mental throwback to a fight that happened years ago, Naruto leapt up and sprinted along the sand-arm. Gaara attempted to swipe him off, but the Odama Rasengan tore through the second arm and left Naruto’s path clear as he ran right up to Gaara, wound back a fist, and punched him in the face, hard enough to knock him off his feet yet again.

Naruto’s instincts screamed and he flashed to a Mie Kunai behind him, in time to see the sand-arm he’d run along barrel through the place he’d just been, knocking itself apart at the ‘shoulder’. 

Naruto scooped up the Mie Kunai he’d landed next to and spun it on his clawed finger into a reverse grip, but it appeared Gaara had had enough of the fight. He let the sand he’d collected drop back to the ground, releasing Shukaku’s chakra as his gourd slowly reformed. He raised a hand. “I have no wish to continue.” With that, he began walking toward the door to the infirmary once more. 

Naruto, shrugging, hurled the Mie Kunai in his hand toward the center of the arena. By the time it landed, he had flashed to each of the others he’d thrown in sequence, picked them up, and sealed them away. Then, with a final flash of orange, he reappeared in the center of the arena, and began to spin the last one on his finger once more; a nervous tic he’d picked up on the battlefield.

“The winner of the chunin exam tournament by voluntary forfeit,” Sarutobi called over the increasingly restless crowd. “Is Uzumaki Naruto! Thank you all for attending! Hopefuls: you will be called to my office to discuss your promotions over the next week. Visitors: There will be a festival tonight; please, enjoy!”

Still spinning the Mie Kunai on his finger, Naruto nodded to Gekkou and strolled toward the infirmary himself. Sasuke would probably be awake soon, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I got some (admittedly fair) comments that I rushed through some of the fights last time. Hopefully this round is a little better. Plus, I thought it was about time we checked in on some of our other heroes. 
> 
> Gaara doesn’t appear to have a Version One cloak in canon, possibly because his Tanuki was invented to juxtapose the Kitsune in Naruto before the idea of having a full 9 bijuu occurred to the writer. I’m writing it in for consistency in the mythos, but you can consider it an AU effect if you want. Also, as noted last chapter, I’m ‘fixing’ some plotholes that came up in previous chapters/author’s notes. 
> 
> Another (admittedly fair) comment brought up that Naruto hasn’t been paying Sasuke any attention. I’ve tried to address this to some degree, though the problem is certainly not solved. In Naruto’s defense though, he’s had a LOT on his mind since he found himself in the past, and in becoming Hokage, he kinda had to learn to think bigger than one single nin, no matter how powerful they are/were/might someday be (I’m having terrible Time Travel Tense Trouble today), or whether or not they were a personal friend. 
> 
> I’m going to refer to the war in the lost future as the ‘Edo Tensei War’, to distinguish it from canon’s Fourth Shinobi World War. The two are equitable, but not exactly the same, if you haven’t guessed by now. 
> 
> Numagakure no Sato (沼隠れ の 里) would be "Village Hidden in a Marsh". I made it up, because there’s got to be more minor villages than we’re shown in canon, and as far as I know we’re never told where the Land of Demons is supposed to be. 
> 
> The moral of [the time I spent writing] this chapter is: Being homeless is not fun. I’m not on the streets anymore at the time of posting, and I am finally working again. Some truly wonderful people sent me some money to make sure I got by, and I actually received my very first Patron, so this chapter is dedicated to everyone who cared. (Tell your friends! Spread the word! Keep circulating the links!) 
> 
> **Special thanks to Gade Ricard.**


	9. One Man In His Time Plays Many Parts

“So how’d you win it, dobe?” Sasuke demanded, still confined to his infirmary bed and unable to believe the localized radio broadcast that told him Naruto had somehow won the entire tournament.

“Gaara forfeit,” Naruto said with a shrug, clothes still torn but somehow no longer bleeding.

Kankurou choked. “What? Really?” They hadn’t spoken much, but Sasuke had gotten the impression he was intimidated by his younger brother. Sasuke glanced at the stoic Suna-nin, who let out a tiny sigh through his nose. 

“I had no wish to chase Uzumaki around the stadium for the next three years waiting for him to run out of energy.”

* * *

Even as the surrounding crowd grew more and more restless, the remainder of the small group of genin that people had taken to calling the Rookie Nine remained wrapped in a stunned silence. That…that had been leagues beyond Naruto’s match against Temari. The finals had been _insane_ , and all of them were painfully aware that they could not have stood up to either of the apparent titans they had just witnessed clash.

Slowly, and with many glances between each other, they rose and exited the stadium in a clump, drifting through the city and eventually settling down around a large table at one of the nin-only restaurants in the city.

“So,” Kiba said finally, apparently unable to stand the silence any longer. “ _What the **actual** hell._ ”

“I think we can agree this is not a question of keeping Team secrets,” Shino murmured. “Why? Because Sasuke did not perform significantly above expectations, and Sakura seems equally surprised as any of us.”

The group’s collective attention swung toward Sakura, who hunched in her seat. “I…I didn’t know about this at all,” she said plaintively. “Four months ago we were in the Land of Waves and he was still… Still Naruto.” Hinata frowned a little, and Sakura hurried on. “He fought his hardest and he saved Sasuke! And there was that red…power…in the last fight on the bridge when he thought Sasuke-kun was dead. I know Sasuke-kun thought it might be a new kekkei genkai, but it never happened again after that. Naruto told us it was a fluke. And it wasn’t anywhere near as powerful or as controlled as now.”

“So when did he start to act different?” Chouji asked between bites.

Sakura thought hard. “Maybe a week before the Exams?” she said finally. “We were coming back from a mission when he collapsed and we had to rest for the night, just an hour outside of Konoha. Kakashi-sensei blew it off like it was no big deal, but… The very next day he had that jacket and armour and new weapons.” 

Shikamaru’s head shot up. “Jacket,” he repeated. “That jacket. And new weapons, like that three-pronged kunai. Sakura, can I see that again?”

She shrugged, and withdrew the Mie kunai once more, laying it on the table. Everyone leaned in to see Shikamaru staring at it, lips moving soundlessly, and tracing his fingers over it. “Ino, paper?”

She produced some, and a charcoal-pencil, and Shikamaru quickly sketched a slightly different three-pronged kunai, this one with a curved bottom. Next to it was a short-sleeved jacket with flames around the bottom.

He paused, staring down at what he’d drawn, then dropped his head onto the table with a bang. “I’m an _idiot_.”

Shino rose halfway from his chair to look more closely, and then his eyebrows shot up, clearly visible over his customary sunglasses. “How could nobody have seen this?”

“No one ever paid close enough attention to Naruto,” Shikamaru said dully, still facedown.

“Are you saying…what I think you’re saying?” Sakura asked shakily.

Shikamaru raised his head and the pencil again, and quickly scribbled the kanji for Fourth Hokage down the back of the jacket.

Ino was the next to put it together, and she pressed her hands over her mouth, before hissing, “But why did all the teachers always seem to hate him? If, if he was really the son of-”

“WHAT!?” Kiba yelled, clearly not having understood Shikamaru’s implication until it was spelled out. Everyone hushed him, although they all felt the same way. Kiba obediently lowered his voice, but his whisper sounded strained, “ _There is seriously no way this could have been kept a secret. It **has** to be a coincidence_.”

Shikamaru shook his head. “Where better to hide a secret than in plain sight? If you have a secret letter, you just place it on your desk with the rest of the mail, like the old Kaminari story. Nobody ever bothered to question his appearance because his personality was so in-your-face.”

“And… Teachers are not the only ones to dislike Naruto-kun,” Hinata put in softly. “I’ve seen civilians, from our age up to the elderly, frown and turn away from him when he speaks up or asks a question or enters a store. Almost everyone in the village treats him like he doesn’t exist. They would never consider the possibility that he could be someone important.”

“Then…” Ino was clearly following her own train of thought. “Then in the finals, when he was flashing around the arena…?”

“‘Flashing’ is the correct word,” Shikamaru sighed. “If this was supposed to be a secret, he just blew it wide open. And in front of the Tsuchikage as well.” 

Sakura paled. “Earth Country…the History books I’ve read said that the Tsuchikage’s decision to end the war was an unpopular one with the populace.”

“But that was then,” Shino pointed out. “Now, though, I doubt the Tsuchikage will wish to start a fight. Why? Because not only is Naruto demonstrating a level of combat that could rival multiple jonin, but he was matched by that boy from Sunagakure, our ally.”

“Those two were…unreal,” Ino shook her head, ponytail swaying gently. “The last attack that other boy did; we saw he could control sand before, but this was _black_ sand. That was the signature of the Third Kazekage.”

“Tou-chan said the Suna team are the current Kazekage’s children,” Chouji offered.

“The Fourth Kazekage is not related to the Third,” Sakura recited. “The Third Kazekage is said to have abruptly retired, naming his favored general as his successor. Which is usually taken to mean he was suddenly assassinated, and Suna hushed it up.”

“But that’s another thing,” Kiba jumped back in, pointing at Chouji. “Those two guys who are always at the gate─Kotetsu and Izumo─I heard them telling nee-chan that they saw Naruto leaving the village with that Gaara kid, without an escort. _Twice._ And I saw them both leaving his apartment together this morning. It’s like they’ve known each other forever, but I’ve never seen the dude before, and I could have sworn Naruto didn’t have any friends other than us,” He gestured at himself, Chouji, and Shikamaru. “Much less anyone from Suna.”

Shikamaru groaned. “Troublesome. We solved one puzzle only to be faced with more. This is such a drag…”

* * *

As the three Kage settled into chairs in the Hokage’s office, they each dismissed their respective guards. The Konoha and Suna ANBU bowed respectfully and vanished to form a perimeter. Jiraiya and Tsunade meandered off, each with their own plans. Kurotsuchi and Roshi, meanwhile, simply shrugged and made their way back into town.

The three most powerful men in their respective countries, meanwhile, sat quietly over a pot of tea the Hokage prepared for them. Finally, Onoki folded his arms and grumbled. “I guess it’s clear what happens when two ringers reach the finals of the Chunin Exams. I wonder what A would say, if he were here.” 

“Circumstances are not as they should be, Tsuchikage-dono,” Rasa murmured. “We truly live in interesting times, like the Tetsu proverb says. I was approached by Orochimaru to ally with him in an attack on Konoha, and I must confess I was tempted until my heretofore violent and sociopathic son pointed out quite rationally how unlikely I was to survive such an arrangement.”

“Hmph.” Onoki grunted. “And here I thought it world-endingly strange that Roshi came back from exile to tell me we need to pursue peaceful relations with the other villages. What _are_ things coming to?”

“I believe we have all been so counseled,” Sarutobi said at last. “There seems little point attempting to hide it after this afternoon’s display─it seems we have all been advised by our villages’ Jinchuuriki. Whatever omen or portents they may be reacting to, I do not know,” he lied delicately, “but it seems clear to me that if multiple, very different people, independently come to the same conclusion, then it is a conclusion worth giving careful consideration.”

“And that conclusion is a warning to ally with our former enemies, and to shun a powerful mercenary group,” Onoki grumped.

“Akatsuki,” Rasa nodded. “I suppose I should have been more hesitant to employ any organization which previously counted Orochimaru among their number.”

Onoki’s mouth twisted, but he reluctantly nodded. “I became aware of them when they interfered with the retaking of one of my own village’s rogues. He joined their ranks, but the rest seemed happy to do untraced work for hire.” 

“Ah, yes, your student Choukoku-ka no Deidara,” Sarutobi mused. He reached for a folder, placing it on the desk between the two men. “He is listed in the first pair of partners. Jiraiya has been gathering intelligence on Akatsuki for quite some time, since he discovered that Orochimaru had been a member.”

Rasa reached forward to open the folder, revealing the first two known members: Deidara and Sasori. His eyes narrowed at the hunched, cloaked form of the latter, even as Onoki grumbled about arrogant children and their stupid artwork.

“Indeed,” the Hokage sighed, in reply to the Kazekage’s glare. Rasa continued to turn the pages of the dossier, examining the details that Jiraiya had gathered from Naruto about each of the members, accompanied by photographs if any existed, or else by sketches Jiraiya had made from Naruto’s henge. “These are some of the most dangerous rogues still free today, and they have proved themselves collectively resourceful and strategic. Their leader deploys teams with complementing abilities, if not personalities, to complete objectives efficiently and defend themselves and each other from reprisal from any nation.”

“Where are they? What is their goal?” Rasa asked, his tactical mind whirring as he turned from Hidan and Kakuzu to Itachi and Kisame, running a finger down Itachi’s file and noting the highlighted kanji reading _spy_ ─the obvious red herring to explain why their information was so complete, and why Sarutobi believed it to be accurate. “I find it difficult to believe such powerful nin would gravitate together rather than clash, or at best, agree not to interfere with one another.”

Sarutobi gestured for him to continue through the folder. “They appear to be centrally based in Amegakure at the moment. Though it is rare that they physically gather, evidence suggests they have bolt-holes in nearly every country. We are not yet certain how they coordinate over long distances, but they unmistakably do so. To what end, we still have not been able to ascertain.”

“For what other end does anyone abandon their home?” Onoki growled. “Power. Greed. ‘Freedom’ to perform whatever foolish or monstrous act occurs to them.”

Rasa inclined his head. “But that leaves the question of who or what has drawn them together.” He turned the second-to-last page, scanned Konan’s notes briefly, then turned to Pain and gasped. “-the Rinnegan?”

“Indeed,” Sarutobi said gravely. “This, we have been able to confirm. These two were both once students of Jiraiya, and we have also ascertained that this ‘Pain’ is the slayer of Sanshouo no Hanzou. He is, without a doubt, the most powerful of them, and the current guiding force, though our…source…believes there may be a hidden puppetmaster.” He reached out and turned the final page himself, which showed a cloaked figure with a swirling orange mask.

There was a beat as both the foreign Kage read the man’s chosen alias.

“‘Madara’!? That’s impossible!” Onoki snapped. “I fought Uchiha Madara. If you believe nothing else about the man, I _know_ that he was too proud to ever hide his face behind a mask.”

“Let us continue to call him ‘Tobi’, then,” Sarutobi agreed. “It seems to be the name he uses when not attempting to call on the legacy of Uchiha Madara. It seems likely from the shape of the mask that Tobi has only one eye, and we have confirmed that is indeed Sharingan. It has never been seen deactivated, but that is not sufficient evidence to say whether he is or is not Uchiha himself. We also believe he was the instigator behind the Uchiha Incident.”

“Never mind him!” Onoki said, though the crease in his brow said plainly that he had far from dismissed the Madara-impersonator. “If we know where the most powerful of them are, why shouldn’t we attack? They cannot possibly suspect you have _this much_ intelligence, and we have the force of three Jinchuuriki!”

“Do my ears deceive me?” Sarutobi smiled, a little teasingly. “Does the fence-sitting Onoki of Both Scales believe we should simply attack?”

“Don’t play with me, Saru!” Onoki retorted. “You’re the one who’s gone to great lengths to gather this dossier and convince us that the organization is dangerous. Why should we not strike?”

Rasa shook his head. “If ‘Tobi’ is indeed the true master, he may not be at Amegakure at all.” He flipped back to Pain and Konan’s entries, and pushed the folder closer to Onoki. “The dossier suggests that only a few of these members know or care about the ultimate goal, suggesting they are, as you said, only in it for the money, or freedom. And this… ‘Pain’ is simply an angry young man, who believes as many young men do, that might makes right and a more dangerous weapon brings peace.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, doubtless remembering occasions where he had thought the same thing. “Look at the Jinchuuriki,” he added, when Onoki continued to frown. “They were meant to be a deterrent of war, rather than instruments of it, yet look at their history. I sacrificed my wife and my son’s childhood to gain a weapon. It appears I very nearly sacrificed my child’s own sanity.”

Face still twisted in a scowl, Onoki nodded, turning the folder forward once more to glare at Tobi.

“I have had an ambassador reach Water Country, only this past month,” Sarutobi offered, neglecting of course to mention that it was the same nin as his spy. “Chigiri no Yagura is dead, and Terumi Mei has been raised in his place as the Godaime Mizukage. She expressed her regrets that she could not attend the Chunin Exams as well, but did not wish to leave her village at such a critical time. I believe she will work with us as well.”

“Kiri’s jinchuuriki are missing or dead,” Rasa said softly. “We had a report, years ago, that they quietly held the Rokubi in addition to the high placement of the Sanbi, but I’ve had no confirmation since. Certainly no nin in the last five years has shown any sign of the Rokubi’s powers.”

“Terumi are the other line of Lava users,” Onoki countered, finally breaking off his glare at the dossier and rubbing his eyes. “And their previous head married another clan with a unique release.”

“The only power possibly un-warned, then, is Kumogakure,” Sarutobi said. “I do not know whether A will listen to me, or to all of us, but I believe we should deliberate on how to approach him.”

* * *

“Where are we going?” Kurotsuchi complained idly as she followed Roshi through the streets of Konoha, wondering why in the hell he’d told her to wear kimono. “We’ve passed like three places that looked good, and I want a damn drink.” She eyed up a few of the better-looking passersby, but everyone was giving the Iwa-nin a wide berth and some degree of glare. Tch. As if they weren’t here under parley and being escorted by ANBU to boot.

“Patience is one of the Sage’s virtues, Kuro-chan,” Roshi chided, smirking where she couldn’t see. “And, we are going to meet and eat and drink with the fighters from the finals. Not that one,” he added, as a blond in an orange jacket sprinted by them and ducked under the curtain to a ramen shop. “That’s a kage bunshin.”

“Then how the hell do you know where they are?” she demanded.

Roshi snorted. “I’m following another kage bunshin.” He pointed up at the rooftop to their right. Kurotsuchi followed the line, and saw an identical blond head suddenly pop up.

“Okay, but how long were you wandering looking for a sign?”

“He’s been there since we left the Kage’s tower, Kurotsuchi.” This time she could _hear_ the damnable smirk.

Kurotsuchi scoffed. “You expect me to believe a _genin_ not only knows Kage Bunshin well enough to make more than one with independent goals, but that one of the bunshin is staying hidden from me? I’m a _jonin_!”

Another snort. “I don’t much care what you believe, Kuro-chan. You asked a question and I answered it.” Before she could retort again, he turned sharply into a doorway set back from the street. “We’re here.”

They stepped into a subtle, but surprisingly upscale restaurant, with extremely classical decor. Kurotsuchi’s eyebrows shot up at the understated formality of the place, unable to reconcile it with the blond bunshin she’d seen tear past her. Numbly, she toed off her sandals behind Roshi, and followed him to a low table set for…Uzushio kaiseki-ryouri? 

The little blond kid, now wearing an orange kimono that somehow suited him instead of clashing with his hair, had the seat of honor at the head of the table, furthest from the door. To his immediate left sat a tall man in plain white, with long unbound hair and startling pale eyes. _Hyuuga_ , Kurotsuchi recalled from her Konoha studies and bingo book. _The head of the clan._

Next came an equally-tall man in the high-collared jacket of an Aburame, and another man with a long blond ponytail and the pupil-less eyes of a Yamanaka. There were two empty seats beside him, the first of which Roshi took. Kurotsuchi bowed numbly, and knelt on the cushion to Roshi’s left. 

To her left, at the end of the table, was the redhead who had fought in the finals; Gaara, the youngest son of the Kazekage. Across from her was a broad-shouldered woman whose face tattoos identified an Inuzuka. Next, across from Roshi, was a scar-faced man with coarse black hair, whom she recognized as Konoha’s Jonin-Commander, Nara. A very stocky red-haired man came next; Akimichi. Another empty space, and finally, a buxom woman with honey-blonde hair—Senju _freaking_ Tsunade.

_Sage’s staff, this kid has some powerful friends._ This dinner was a who’s-who of Konoha’s nobility and leadership, plus some assorted guests. She had just thought better of opening her mouth when Roshi bowed slightly to the kid, and murmured, “Jalmukesumneda.” She haltingly repeated the unfamiliar word, vaguely recalling an Academy lesson on the former village of Uzushiogakure. She spied a red swirl pattern on the kid’s kimono—not an uncommon symbol in Konoha, but nobody else at the table wore it.

Before she could do more than ponder that, she heard someone else enter the restaurant from the street. They weren’t talking loudly, but their voices nevertheless carried to the table.

“Dobe, do you want to tell me why you felt the need to break into my house, bring me a kimono, and drag me out of the hospital?”

“Because you’re later for dinner,” came the reply, “And you’d have been pretty underdressed in a hospital gown. Your traps suck, by the way. Remind me to show you some better ones.”

“You’re still wearing your fighting clothes!” the first voice argued.

“Yeah, but I’m a kage bunshin. And did I mention you’re late? Bye.” A tiny _poof_ accompanied the last word, and Kurotsuchi could have sworn a flicker of a smirk crossed the blond host’s face, even as he conversed with the Hyuuga.

A moment later, the shoji partition behind the Kazekage’s son slid aside, and the Uchiha from the semifinals came in. He bowed a little lower than normal, muttering an excuse about his lateness, but took the remaining cushion between Tsunade and the Akimichi with considerable dignity…though the disbelieving eyebrow he raised toward the host damaged the effect slightly.

“My friends,” the young host said, voice pitched to carry, “For I hope I can count you all as friends in the years to come—please enjoy this meal.” He paused, as the server poured him a drink. Then he took the bottle, and served the Hyuuga, who in turn served Aburame. 

“Never fill your own glass,” Roshi muttered to her as he poured for her. “Keep your neighbors’ full, and they’ll do the same. Pour with two hands, and receive the same way.”

When everyone’s glass was full, the blond raised his glass. “Just once, formally, in the style of my clan’s homeland: ganbae!” Everyone drank, Kurotsuchi surprised by how smoothly the drink went down, compared to sake. She refilled Roshi’s glass, and then the redhead’s.

“In the spirit of that friendship, I’d like to introduce my friend Gaara of Sunagakure, and Roshi and Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure. You are all, as of the drink we just shared, friends of Uzumaki Naruto. Let us eat.” He lifted his chopsticks, Tsunade a beat behind him, and everyone followed suit, taking an opening bite of their rice as the side dishes were served in collective plates in the center of the table.

Kurotsuchi went to take another drink. “Pace yourself,” Roshi hissed in her ear. “It’s easy to lose track of soju.” She hummed in response, serving herself what looked like octopus and some kind of root on a negiyaki, listening with one ear to Roshi going over the various dishes, and with the other to the Inuzuka and Nara’s banter about the rounds of the tournament that she had obviously missed.

“What brings you to Konoha?” asked the redhead to her left, Gaara.

“I’m here as one of grandfather’s guards,” Kurotsuchi answered.

“A jonin, then,” Gaara surmised. “Impressive at your age. And to work opposite Akahige no Roshi speaks more highly still of your ability. Do you aspire to take your grandfather’s seat?”

Kurotsuchi paused. “I…didn’t really give it much active thought,” she confessed. “Gramps is still going strong, despite all his complaints about his back.”

“Of course. Still, it is never too early to think of the future.”

Unsure what to say to that, she started on her seaweed soup, watching the two across from her dig into bean sprouts, glass noodles, and what looked like radishes covered in chili powder.

“…surprisingly good showing in the Exams,” Inuzuka was saying “All three rookie teams made it to round two, and one even went to the finals. Your kid tell you what happened to his and Gai’s teams in the Forest?”

“Shikamaru hit his head, so he doesn’t remember very clearly,” the Nara drawled. He gestured across the table, at his blond compatriot sitting on Roshi’s other side. “Inoichi’s daughter said they were ambushed by an older Konoha team. The ones that were eliminated in the finals.” He scratched his stubbled chin. “Last I heard, Hokage-sama brought them in for questioning on the word of one of our spies. The third teammate—they think he was the one who attacked the older Hyuuga kid—disappeared the night after the Forest.”

There was a _snap_ as Gaara’s chopsticks broke in his hand. “My apologies,” he said tonelessly, setting the pieces aside and drawing several splinters from his fingers. Curiously, there was no blood. A moment later, a waitress smoothly delivered him a fresh pair and swept away the old, just as the main dish of grilled beef arrived, along with a hot pot that smelled like crab. Unnoticed by anyone else at the table, Kurotsuchi thought, Gaara caught Naruto’s eye and made a two brief handsigns, getting the shadow of a nod in return. Interesting.

As dinner was winding down, there was a small rush of chakra outside the front door. A waiter moved quietly over to Naruto and passed him a scroll, evidently from the messenger outside. He read it, clicked his tongue softly, and rose. “Nothing to worry about!” he assured the table boisterously. “Excuse me just a moment.” He strolled from the room, surreptitiously gesturing to Gaara to keep his seat.

There was a conversation held in undertone in the genkan room, a gusty sigh, and a much more concentrated chakra surge. A moment later, Naruto returned. He tipped Gaara a wink on his way back to his seat, took a sip of soju, and returned to his conversation with Uchiha and Aburame. Beside her, Gaara snorted softly. Kurotsuchi glanced at him, but he shook his head.

* * *

“What’s up, Jiijii? I’m missing dessert for this,” Naruto grumbled good-naturedly.

“My apologies, Naruto-kun,” Sarutobi chortled. “But as I’m sure you can imagine, Mitarashi-san rather quickly came around to the suggestion that someone wished to try removing her curse mark.” He gestured at the door to the next room. “Though I believe Jiraiya-kun helped convince her, with how eager he is to see your solution.”

In an instant, Naruto’s face went serious—the mark of a much more experienced nin than his age suggested. “I take it Ero-sennin is with her now?” 

He nodded, and Naruto put his hands together in a Ram seal. Rather than the traditional puff of chakra smoke, he simply shimmered into his henge: roughly his appearance before coming back in time, except without his whisker-marks, and with red hair covered by a hitai-ite worn like a bandanna. “I’ll need a blank ANBU mask I can imprint,” he requested.

Sarutobi simply raised a hand, and a moment later, a white porcelain mask fell into it, dropped by an unseen ANBU guard. He passed this over to Naruto and watched, amused, as Naruto placed a permanent henge on the chakra-receptive material to give it red markings in the likeness of a fox. He pressed it to his face, and straightened up, looking for all the world like any given operative.

“Come along, then, Kitsune-kun,” Sarutobi said, still smiling. Perhaps Naruto’s confidence in himself was infectious.

* * *

Jiraiya glanced up, but concealed his surprise. “Kitsune-san,” he said. Behind Naruto, Sarutobi smirked, and Jiraiya was sure that his old teacher knew him so well, could he tell Jiraiya was trying not to laugh. “This is Mitarashi-san, who has a seal that she’d like removed.”

Anko gave a skeptical snort, arms folded defensively. “Way to undersell it, Jiraiya-sama. Orochimaru placed the damn thing. Nobody’s been able to get rid of it.”

“Thank you for humoring me in that case, Mitarashi-san,” Naruto—Kitsune—said, doing a pretty damn good ANBU impression. Jiraiya had to wonder if he’d played an ANBU operative before…or been one. “May I examine the seal?” Probably pointless, since he’d claimed to know the thing inside and out, but it would look a bit suspicious if he didn’t even ask to see it.

Still scowling, Anko half-turned and rolled down the collar of her jacket, showing Kitsune the three tomoe starkly against her pale skin.

“Why hasn’t this had a Fuuja Houin put around it?” Kitsune asked Jiraiya conversationally. Jiraiya shrugged. 

Anko turned back around. “I declined. I wanted to show the higher-ups I was strong enough to fight off his influence without it.”

Kitsune tilted his head slightly. “You know it would have also reduced the pain by at least half.”

“I’m not afraid of pain,” Anko said shortly.

“Good,” said Kitsune, turning to examine the sealing supplies. “Because this is probably going to hurt more than anything you’ve felt since the seal was applied. I need a smaller brush,” he added, presumably knowing there was at least two ANBU stationed in the room. “No more than a quarter the width of my little finger. And something for her to bite down on. Please have a seat, Mitarashi-san.” He gestured to a simple wooden chair in the middle of the room.

In his peripheral vision, Jiraiya saw her fingers clench on the opposite arms. “Jiraiya-sama’s attempt had me in sarashi, with all sorts of drawings around the seal.”

Kitsune nodded, glancing back at her. “I’m familiar with the procedure he would have tried. While I don’t doubt he enjoyed the view as much as I would, it was the best attempt possible until now. You should not even need to remove your jacket all the way.”

After another moment’s hesitation (and a scowl thrown at Jiraiya, whose eyes had glazed over in remembrance), Anko shifted her jacket off her shoulders and sat down straddling the chair, leaning on the back.

As Kitsune picked up the bowl, ignoring the inkwell, a muted surge of chakra announced the arrival of the additional supplies he’d requested, in the hands of ANBU Cat. “Thank you, Neko-san.” He passed the leather-wrapped stick to Anko, but hesitated at taking the brush, which was clearly from Sarutobi-sensei’s own calligraphy set.

“Go ahead, Kitsune-kun,” Sarutobi said. “I can think of no finer use for it to be put.”

Accepting the brush, Kitsune turned back to Anko, who was sitting stiffly, but ready. Rather than one of the scalpels on the table, or his teeth as was typical for a nin, Kitsune cut the end of his second finger with a tiny Fuuton blade, and let a small amount of his chakra-rich blood fall into the dish. Interesting; he was using _just_ blood.

He dipped the brush into it, and began to paint a minute circle sealing characters within the space between the tomoe of the seal, leaving about a fingertip’s width blank. Next, three lines of script spiraled out, in between each tomoe and moving counterclockwise, each line ending directly opposite where it came from. Anko shivered slightly, and Kitsune paused a moment to inspect his work.

“Last warning,” he said quietly, as Jiraiya looked over what he’d drawn. “This _is_ going to hurt. Try to bite the stick instead of your own tongue. And don’t move too much, because the chakra may petrify you if it goes out of control.” 

_Petrify?_ Jiraiya thought. _Is he using natural energy?_

His question was answered a moment later. First, Kitsune dipped the tip of his forefinger into the blood in the dish, pushing his chakra to his hand. A moment later, Jiraiya felt a second chakra join it, which he recognized as the Kyuubi’s. And then Kitsune stilled entirely, and Jiraiya felt him begin to channel tendrils of natural energy as well. Not enough to fully shift his body into Sage Mode, but sufficient to suffuse the blue and red blend of chakra dancing in his hand with the green of nature, before they combined into something else completely. 

Kitsune lifted his finger, the swirl of his fingerprint at once coated in red, and glowing a deep, rich gold, and pressed it sharply to the blank circle in the center of the seal he had drawn. “Fuuin!”

At once, both seals lit up; Kitsune’s a shining gold like his chakra, and Orochimaru’s a dark, ugly purple. The cursed seal tried to activate, but the new seal contained it, beginning to spin counterclockwise, looking for all the world like a screw pump drawing the dark chakra up and out of Anko. Jiraiya could hear the stick creaking as she bit down on it, groaning in agony; could see the curse mark fighting back, like a snake refusing to remove its fangs from a victim. But this wasn’t his first time messing with this particular seal, and he could tell Kitsune was gaining ground. It was _working_.

Sixty seconds later, Kitsune barked, “Scroll!”, and Neko blurred into view holding up a blank sealing scroll. With a final wrench, Kitsune dragged the cursed seal out of Anko’s shoulder, and slapped it onto the paper. With a final flash, it was suddenly just ink once more: the three tomoe of its compact form now surrounded by innumerable sealing characters. His own seal was gone entirely, leaving slightly chakra-burned but otherwise pristine skin where the curse mark had been for so long.

Anko slumped, the stick falling from her mouth with a clatter as she gasped for breath. Neko hurriedly passed the scroll to Sarutobi-sensei and leapt to Anko’s side with a glass of water.

“Kitsune-kun,” Sarutobi said, looking oddly at the scroll in his hand. “This seal…”

Jiraiya gave it a look over his shoulder, eyes darting back and forth over the full seal. “What the _hell_?”

“Orichimaru is a long way from a sealing master,” Kitsune said dryly. “There are dozens of sections of that seal that do nothing, or that contradict each other, or that are entirely inactive. He seems to have just thrown everything he can at a wall until finding approximately the results he wanted. You should see the original Cursed Seal of Earth; it’s even more of a mess.” He flipped a hand carelessly at the scroll. “I don’t need that, so I recommend it be sealed away once Jiraiya-sama is done with it.”

Even after so short a time, Jiraiya pondered, it was odd to hear someone that he knew was Naruto use his formal title.

* * *

Meanwhile, Neko was helping Anko drink the water down. “How do you feel, Anko-chan?”

“Fucking wretched,” she groaned. “But…it’s gone, isn’t it. I can feel the difference in my chakra. He did it.”

“It’s gone,” Neko promised her. “I don’t know much about sealing, but usually it takes more space and more intricacy to be more powerful. He must be skilled to have done this with such a tiny seal. But…it’s gone, Anko-chan.”

“Finally,” Anko breathed. “Thank him for me, will you? And take me home? I’m going to pass out now.” She let her head fall onto her arms and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

Slipping past the Sensing Barrier was an old trick; like tree-walking or spinning a kunai, you just never forgot. Even guiding Kisame, with his much larger frame and chakra reserves, wasn’t much of a challenge.

Not that it was preventing the bigger man from complaining. “Remind me again _why_ we’re here for no reason, Itachi-san.”

“‘For no reason’,” he repeated softly. “And also because I heard that Orochimaru is targeting my brother. Which is unacceptable.”

“Right,” Kisame drawled. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with those odd dreams that have you sleeping even less than usual.”

Itachi didn’t bother to reply.

“So cold, Itachi-san, so cold…” 

“He’s like that a lot, you’ll find,” cut in a new voice. 

They both looked to the side to find an ANBU in a fox mask and an orange haori coat, with black flames around the hem and sleeves. Itachi’s eyes widened slightly.

“Interesting fashion choice,” Kisame purred, reaching for Samehada, though he didn’t draw it. Yet. “I don’t believe that’s ANBU standard at all.”

“I’m not really your standard type of ANBU,” Kitsune shot back. “And neither of you is the standard sort of traitor. So hey, we can all be weirdos together. Unless you came here to start trouble. In which case, we’ll have to fight. And while that might be some fun, in the end I’ll have to kill you, and Sasuke and Samehada will never forgive me.”

Itachi froze, and beside him, felt Kisame do the same. Not just at the confidence the nin before them exuded, which they could both tell was not simply bravado, but rather because in one sentence he’d mentioned something that each of them held close to the chest, only sharing with each other recently.

“I see I’ve got your attention.” The ANBU placed his hands casually behind his neck. “So are we going to talk this out like civilized nin? Why are you here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Lesson learned: Don’t take ‘a week off’ for my birthday or it’ll turn into 6 months. I know this can’t possibly live up to expectation, so I’ll just give it to you and try to do better. Anyway, notes ─ Sarutobi refers to ‘Deidara the Sculptor’, as a sort of _nom de guerre_ since Deidara doesn’t appear to have a surname in canon. The title comes from  As You Like It, and here refers to the fact that we’re seeing Naruto through many others’ eyes.
> 
> _Kaiseki-ryōri_ (会席料理) is a fixed multi-course meal; compare the French _table d'hôte_ , sometimes rendered in English as a menu à prix-fixe (meaning fixed-price; in contrast to a menu à la carte). You can also compare the Korean _jeongsik_ (정식), because my headcanon for Uzu no kuni is a parallel to Korea in food and culture. Thus, the _Uzushio kaiseki-ryōri_ (rendered in Japanese because it’s in Konoha) consists of traditional Korean dishes, which would be _Hanjeongsik_ (한정식), or at least, as near as a waeguk like me is going to manage. ‹_‹;
> 
> _Jalmukesumneda_ (잘먹겠습니다) is the thanks you give before a meal in Korean (as opposed to the Japanese _‘Itadakimasu’_ ).  
>   
> The dishes on the table (not all named): _Bap_ (밥), cooked rice. _Miyeok guk_ (미역국), seaweed soup. _Sujeo_ (수저), a set of spoon and chopsticks. _Gochujang_ (고추장), chili paste. _Ganjang_ (간장), soy sauce.  
>  _7 cheop_ (칠첩) _banchan_ (반찬), meaning seven total side-dishes: _Kimchi_ (김치), traditional fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbage. _Chonggak kimchi_ (총각김치), whole _mu_ (무, Korean white radish) with chili pepper seasoning. _Kongnamul_ (콩나물), cold boiled bean sprouts with sesame oil. _Nakji bokkeum_ (낙지볶음), stir-fried baby octopus in gochujang. _Yeongeun jorim_ (연근조림), lotus-root simmered in soy sauce. _Pajeon_ (파전), thin pancakes with scallions. _Japchae_ (잡채), glass noodles with vegetables and beef in a slightly-sweet garlic sauce.  
>  And the main courses: _Ge jjigae_ (게찌개), crab stew; and _bulgogi_ (불고기), literally "fire meat", typically marinated, thin-sliced beef cooked on a grill.  
>  Look at me, I’m a regular George R. R. Martin now: I take way too long to update and write way too long about food.
> 
> Fun fact, the word ‘décor’ comes to English from French, of course, but the variant English spelling ‘decor’ actually better preserves the French pronunciation. (As opposed to ‘décor’ read in English, where the acute accent forces the stress to fall on the first syllable). TIL.
> 
> If you'd like to chat with me, you can pop into my Discord server at discord dot gg slash ABfg74C
> 
> * * *
> 
> Special thanks to my patrons Gade Ricard and Ran!


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